from the corner of your eye
by chadsuke
Summary: When a misunderstanding prompts Sasuke to take a deeper involvement in the growth of his teammates, no one is quite prepared for the way things... change. Especially Sasuke. The question is - is it for the better? [A slow burn SasuNaru/Team 7 fanfic.]
1. The Beginning

**A/N:** A slow burn, SasuNaru/Team 7 Fix-It Fic. Posted on AO3, now bringing over to fanfiction. Thanks for reading!

* * *

It's not like Sasuke's surprised a boy has fallen for him, too. There are enough girls after him – it's be stupid to assume everyone in their class is straight. Some guy might want to be Mr. Uchiha, and he doesn't really care.

No, the surprising part is that it's _Naruto._

Sasuke doesn't know a lot about romance. He doesn't really care to, not right now. But what he has picked up from his admirers is that you are genuinely very _nice_ to your crushes. All the girls act like everything he does is perfect, as if he can do no wrong. Naruto – Naruto _doesn't._ He argues with him, he never agrees with him, he fights back at every opportunity. If it wasn't for the kiss, Sasuke wouldn't have a clue.

But maybe that's how Naruto deals with his crush? It's not a guy thing – Sasuke isn't stupid enough to think there's an inherent difference in girl-crushes vs. boy-crushes vs. other-gender-crushes, so it must be a Naruto thing. Constantly fight with your crush and be a rival. Huh.

A rival isn't a bad way to go about things.

Too bad he's not interested.

* * *

He catches himself staring at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, sometimes. Whether it's spamming clones so they can weed the garden faster, or throwing himself wholeheartedly into catching Tora, he's always pushing himself.

It's… interesting.

Maybe if he wasn't keeping an eye on Naruto, he wouldn't have noticed, but Sasuke is so he does. Kakashi dismisses them for the day, and disappears. Sakura gives him an apologetic look – she asks him to hang out almost every day, but not every – and babbles out something about helping out her dad and runs off. He squints at her, watching her wring her hands together, turn red, and then flee when he offers up no response but a grunt.

Naruto waves as she leaves. "Bye, Sakura!" he crows, and Sasuke turns his squint onto him. The other boy doesn't seem even slightly tired from their missions. It doesn't matter that he made over 30 clones over the course of the day to help patch the roof – Sasuke had kept track – or that they had had to chase down that godforsaken cat. Naruto, it seems, has stamina.

He catches Sasuke's squint, and glares at him. "What're you looking at, bastard?"

Sasuke ignores the insult. He's quiet for a moment, mulling it over in his head. "…Are you going to train after this?"

It's hard to resist a smirk at how startled Naruto is. "W-What?" He rallies quickly. "Of course! I need to train lots if I want to be the Hokage!"

The Uchiha surveys him for a moment. "You have a lot of stamina. Spar with your clones until you're too tired. It might help."

Naruto stares at him, thunderstruck. Sasuke waits. One… two… three… four… He manages to count all the way to eleven before the other manages to speak. "Why are you telling me this?"

He's suspicious. Sasuke approves. He smirks, before turning to go. "If you do that for a week or two, I'll start sparring with you. But you need to get good first, idiot." He ignores the sputtering and yelling at his back, and keeps walking, hands in his pockets, all the way back to the compound.

Sasuke wonders if this counts as flirting.

* * *

Naruto, apparently, is actually taking Sasuke's words to heart. He shows up every morning tired, and naps on the bridge, sprawled out like a starfish and snoring. He's rejuvenated and fresh by the time Kakashi finally shows, so a nap must be all he needs, but it's a bit of a damper on Sasuke's morning. Without Naruto there to argue with, Sakura can focus only on Sasuke. It's… annoying.

He brings a book from the Uchiha Library, and still, she doesn't stop. She leans over his shoulder and tries to read it and he has to hide it from her because it's Uchiha Clan Material And Not For Nosy Teammates and she pouts at him. "Sasuke! I just want to read it! What's it about?"

Sasuke sighs. "It's clan techniques. You can't read it."

She droops. "Oh. Okay." Sakura stares at her feet, and Sasuke starts to wonder when he became a bleeding heart. Is this why they're put on teams? To make them actually care about people?

That Man's team had died and quit around him. No wonder it didn't work on him. Sasuke frowns down at his book for a few more moments, listening to the birds chirp nearby and Naruto's quiet snores. "Don't you have any books to read, Sakura?"

She blinks at him, surprised. "Er- N-No, I don't."

He frowns. "Bring one next time. Check one out from the library if you don't have anything at home." He has no idea if her parents are civilian, or ninja – he knows they're ALIVE, because he'll never forget that exchange that made her more abhorrent for him and made him soften slightly towards Naruto, but he knows no details. He doesn't care to.

But for now. Sasuke reaches into his bag and pulls out a second book, offering it to her. It's nothing fancy, just a book on elemental ninjutsu. He had brought it along just in case he needed something less-secret to read. "You can read this for now. Take care of it."

She takes it reverently, holding it carefully in her hands. Sakura's face is bright, is the sun, cheeks red and teeth gleaming and she BEAMS at him. "I will! Thank you so much, Sasuke!"

"Hn."

They read until Kakashi arrives, jumping lightly down onto the bridge railings. No one greets him, and his eye curves up in a smile as he reaches out to ruffle Sasuke's hair. The boy scowls as he tucks his book away, and Kakashi's eye smile just crinkles further. "Good job, Sasuke."

He averts his eyes and tries to will away the blush that's risen to his cheeks. It doesn't work.

* * *

Exactly one week after he told Naruto to train, the blond shows up wide-awake to their morning meeting. He sticks his finger in Sasuke's chest, in his personal space, and grins. "Fight me, Sasuke!"

Sasuke swallows down the quip he wants to make – he doesn't want to actually flirt with this loser – and smirks, instead. "Are you sure you're ready?"

Predictably, the idiot takes the bait, his grin turning into a scowl. "I trained for a week! You said if I would then you would fight me!"

The Uchiha resists the urge to correct him, and flickers off the bridge, instead, over to the grass. It's wider here, better for a spar, and the only thing they'd destroy would be the trees if they're not careful. After a moment of surprise, Naruto heaves himself off the bridge and runs over, grinning widely. Sakura follows, less sure of herself. "Sasuke… Naruto… are you sure? Master Kakashi might not-"

Sasuke levels her with a _look_ , and she squeaks and stops. "I need to get stronger," he says, simply. "I need to spar for that. If you get strong enough, I'll spar with you, too." Left unsaid is the fact that she isn't strong enough, not by far – he's sure that Sakura is smart enough to read between the lines. From the way she wilts, he knows he got her.

Surprisingly, Naruto picks up on it, too, and scowls at him. "Hey, hey, Sakura's AWESOME, bastard! She's really strong and her punches hurt a lot! I'm gonna beat you and then you're gonna apologize!"

Sakura doesn't seem to know what to do with that avid defense – quite frankly, Sasuke's not sure what to think about it, either. To be fair, Naruto WOULD know. Sasuke's never gotten punched by the girl. "Fine, Naruto," he concedes, giving the other a smirk. "If you beat me, I'll apologize to Sakura."

Naruto pumped his fist in the air, and then formed a familiar seal. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" With a poof of smoke, five other Narutos surrounded him, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Sakura, you be the ref."

She nodded, straightening up. "No weapons, just taijutsu and ninjutsu." Not like any of them knew any genjutsu anyway, but good idea. "The spar ends when Kakashi-sensei shows up or one of you…" She fumbles slightly. "When one of you get in a spot where you could kill or knock out the other, if this was real."

They both nod at her, waiting for her signal. "One… two… go!"

Sasuke moves, a blur to the eyes, and takes out a clone. And then another, another, another- He dispatches all five easily, but Naruto has summoned three more, and Sasuke has to duck underneath a punch and sweep the feet out from one of the Narutos.

This one hits the ground with a yell and doesn't poof – the real one, then. With the real one on the ground, Sasuke poofs the spare three Narutos in a few moments, before tackling the real Naruto. He pins him to the ground on his stomach, twists his hands up behind him, and sits on his back. "Yield," he says calmly, and Naruto growls.

He can't move, though, and Sakura calls it with glee. "Sasuke won!"

Naruto growls again as Sasuke lets him go, pushing himself to his feet. He doesn't offer to help him up, and the other doesn't even look for it. "Come on, let's go again! Best two out of three!" Naruto doesn't even seem slightly winded, and Sasuke considers this for a moment.

Could be a good workout, if nothing else – and he smirks, taking a few steps back before giving his teammate a nod. "Fine. Again."

The smaller boy lunges forward with a yell, and it's on. Sasuke defeats him again. A third time, a fourth time. They might have even gotten to a fifth, had Kakashi not appeared on the bridge with a small puff of smoke, lifting his hand in greeting and as careless as ever.

Naruto yells at him, Sakura yells at him, and Sasuke lets the tension of sparring bleed off from his shoulders as he shoves his hands into his pockets and wanders back over the bridge. Despite the fact that he won, he's breathing heavily, bits of his hair stuck to his skin with sweat. Naruto doesn't even look affected in the slightest. It's annoying.

* * *

It comes to him that evening, when their missions are long done and the quiet darkness of his house is pressing in on him. Both of his teammates have crushes on him. Both of them.

Naruto had easily been shoved into training the way Sasuke wanted, so he would be a better sparring partner. (But why, why, had he never broken a sweat…?) Sakura lapped up the book he gave her, and could easily be persuaded to start learning more, one way or another, to get stronger.

He refuses to let himself get attached. It was why he had isolated himself from Naruto all these years (though it hasn't, apparently, stalled the other's crush). He can't let That Man have ammunition, can't handle the temptation for his eyes, can't do it. It's just… too painful, too.

But Sasuke has to go on missions with these two, and training with these two will be easier if they were strong, and using their crushes to make them stronger will stop him from being dragged down as much.

Yeah. It's a good plan.


	2. Wave Arc

Sasuke doesn't get a chance to practice leading his teammates in the right direction too much. They only have a few more days – during which Sasuke goads Naruto into training even more, and Sakura reads through a book a day (which, if he's honest, kind of impresses him) – and then Naruto throws a fit about their mission.

Sasuke... kinda agrees. Yeah, it makes sense that genin are sent on these missions. He likes having the money – the less he has to pull out of the Clan Savings, the better. (He's kept a total of how much he's used, because his orphan stipend doesn't cover everything, and he's started to slowly put it back.) But he was the top of the class! Sakura was high, too, he knew that, even if he didn't know how high, and Sasuke wonders how much they're being held back by having Naruto on their team.

…At least, he would wonder, but Naruto is turning out to be surprising. He just wishes they would do more training, because all it seems Kakashi is focused on is team formations and correcting stances and making sure their throwing is accurate and-

Sasuke isn't going to get any stronger at this rate.

So he welcomes the opportunity that Naruto's tantrum brings them, welcomes the fact that now they get to leave Konoha and escort someone, even if it's a drunken bridgebuilder. Maybe bandits will attack, or- or SOMETHING, and he'll be able to do something. Anything. He impressed Kakashi, once, and maybe he could impress him again and then actually LEARN something IMPORTANT and-

He catches Sakura by the elbow before they part ways to pack, though, and levels her with an intent look. She blushes. "Bring some books," he instructs her, noting the way she perks up under the attention. "You'll probably have time to learn."

"Of course, Sasuke!" she chirps, flashing him a pleased smile, and he lets her go.

He turns to Naruto, next, and squints at him. "Oy. Idiot. Do you know how to pack a bag for a mission?" He doubts it. Sakura does. Sasuke does. Kakashi definitely does. Naruto? Probably not.

Naruto takes it like the insult it is and bristles. "O-Of course I do! You'll see!" Sasuke rolls his eyes and opens his mouth but before he can, the idiot's taken off after Sakura.

…Probably to ask her how to pack one, if he knows him at all.

He looks up at Kakashi. Kakashi eye-smiles back down. Sasuke frowns. Kakashi's eye crinkles more. Sasuke's lips fall into what is decidedly NOT a pout, and Kakashi ruffles the boy's hair. "Maa, maa, I'll go check up on him. You're a good teammate, Sasuke."

The drunk bridgebuilder laughs and laughs at the way Sasuke's face turns red, and it's only the fact that this is their Civilian Client that stops him from punching him. Instead, Sasuke marches off towards his compound, trying to ignore his teacher's words. That hadn't been what he meant by it at _all._

* * *

Sasuke manages to hold his own against two chunin until Kakashi shows up, and it's a welcome fact. He can face two chunin and hold his own – maybe he would have beat them with more time, maybe not, but he can hold his own.

His teammates were useless, though. He can give Sakura a little credit, he supposes – she was in position, maybe she could have done something. But Naruto? Naruto did nothing.

And then he almost bled to death. The moron.

But that makes him think about Naruto, at least. And thinking about Naruto makes him remember how the idiot hadn't known a single thing about anything, hadn't understood about Wave or the Kages or anything. He waits a little bit, until Naruto is all patched up and they're moving again, and he contemplates his words and-

"Naruto, if you don't know basic information, you need to ask one of us."

Naruto stares at Sasuke. Sasuke stares back. Sakura stares at Sasuke. Kakashi does that thing where he pretends he's not paying any attention but actually he's analyzing every bit of the conversation and eye-smiling fit to burst. Tazuna stares at Sasuke, cause everyone else is. Naruto swallows – as if something's caught in his throat, something painful lodged there and choking him. "You… What?"

There's something pained in his voice, and Sasuke is- is abruptly reminded of himself, of how he used to be fragile glass held together by force and will and nothing else, and he looks away. Stares straight ahead and doesn't meet anyone's eyes and lets Naruto pull himself together. "If I'm going to fight with you, I won't let you drag me down. So ask one of us." He pauses, and before anyone can speak, continues. "Maybe ask Sakura first, though. She's the most booksmart."

It's not really a compliment – and… it is at the same time – but he can see Sakura blush from the corner of his eye. She nods. "Y-Yeah, sure, I'll answer your questions!"

Sasuke makes himself glance at Naruto, and while there's still something fragile in his face, it's overshadowed by a large beam he's directing at the girl. "Thanks, Sakura!"

He pesters her with questions (even the next day) until they have to be quiet on the boat, and Sasuke is proud that Sakura didn't snap and punch Naruto a single time. (Not that he disapproves of her punching Naruto. He really doesn't. Shinobi hit their comrades all the time, even from birth, getting them used to dispatching violence. It's never been discouraged.) She answers all of his questions and Sasuke is unsurprised that Naruto has not even a simple understanding of what chakra is and something leads her into explaining the Hyuugas and then the Yamanakas and so on and so forth.

She's finished with the Akimichis and is about to go onto the Naras before they hit the boat, and Sasuke has never seen Naruto so attentive before. Huh. He'll have to capitalize on that.

* * *

Then everything goes to hell. They almost die. Naruto proves to be very good at strategizing – must capitalize on that later – and seriously, someone needs to teach Sakura how to fight.

And-

And-

And _Kakashi has the Sharingan._

* * *

They sit by his bedside after they've brought him to Tazuna's house, Naruto's clones helping the trio to carry him, and they stare.

Well. Sasuke stares. He stares at the way Kakashi's forehead protector tilts, how it covers one eye. He had thought, previously, that his teacher only had one eye. But he… he has the Sharingan. From the way a scar covers it, and he only hasone, AND he can't de-activate it, it seems like it was a transplant but that is-

It is-

It. Hurts. Seeing one after so long, even if it suddenly makes so much sense as to why Kakashi is his teacher. Maybe he actually can learn something from him, once he activates his own Sharingan…

"Hey, hey." Naruto speaks up, and the two awake ninja dully turn their eyes on him. He's frowning, staring at their teacher, and apparently in deep contemplation. "You told me to ask if I didn't get something, so I'm asking! What's up with Kakashi-sensei's eye?"

Sakura- doesn't answer. She glances over at him, and Sasuke has never been grateful that she's his teammate, but he is in this instance. He inhales. Exhales. Swallows sharply. Speaks. "It's… called the Sharingan. It's a dojutsu unique to the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke knows the only reason Naruto knows what a dojutsu is is from Sakura telling him about the Hyuuga yesterday, but the blonde nods as if he's known all along. "But Kakashi-sensei's not an Uchiha, right? So how he'd get it?"

Sakura fields this one. Sasuke's grateful again. "I think… it's probably a transplant, Naruto. Someone else had it first, and now Kakashi-sensei does."

Naruto frowns. "So where'd he get it?"

He snaps. "From a dead Uchiha." He sneers, and doesn't feel bad about how his teammates pale, how his fists curl into tight balls on his lap and how he shakes, shakes with anger and something deeper he refuses to acknowledge exists. "They're all dead now, where the hell else would he get it from?"

The other boy scowls at him. "Bastard! Why are they all dead, huh, are you sure? Maybe there's more!"

Sakura bashes her fist on Naruto's head, and Sasuke realizes he's _trembling_. "Idiot! Leave Sasuke alone!" She yells, and she grabs him and she _yanks._ Sakura is probably the only one Naruto will listen to, and even if he doesn't she certainly has the strength to pull him along, and she does.

They leave and they're loud and they slowly get out of the range of his hearing and-

Sasuke breathes. In, out. Inhale, exhale. And he stares at his teacher's eye once more. Because- Because Naruto's question, while it's wrong, is also right. Did- Did Kakashi pluck his eye from one of his dead relatives, post-Massacre? The thought makes his heart clench. He hadn't burned the bodies. He hadn't burned them or disposed of them properly and-

Could… could people have taken their eyes?

* * *

He doesn't ask Kakashi about the eye, when he gets up.

He doesn't ask Kakashi or say a single word about it.

Sasuke accepts that Zabuza is alive, accepts they need to work harder, and he does. He throws himself into his training – though not as recklessly as Naruto – ashamed that Sakura has managed to beat him, ashamed that he doesn't have Perfect Chakra Control, ashamed that he doesn't have his Sharingan even though someone else does, someone else who isn't from his team and probably a thief and-

And then they fight. He gets his Sharingan, he gets that thing he had desired so much, so much in this world-

And Sasuke dies.

* * *

He remembers his body moving, realizing Naruto was down and there was no way to stop the masked boy. There was no way to stop him, there was nothing, there was-

 _I'm an Avenger_ , he thinks. He needs to survive. He should let the boy attack Naruto and then attack him while he's distracted and take him down but. But.

Sasuke can't let someone else die in front of him.

He moves and it _hurts hurts hurts_ but Naruto is safe, Naruto is safe and- "I don't… know," he says, he says to Naruto, but he does.

Kakashi was right the whole time, and it's a burning, unpleasant thought.

He had pretended like he was manipulating them, pretended like he was just raising up his team to be stronger. There were no emotional attachments, he had lied to himself. He didn't care. They could be replaced tomorrow by more competent team members and he wouldn't bat an eye, he told himself.

But he couldn't let- he couldn't let Naruto die.

"I… I hated you," he whispers, he whispers even as he can't feel his body. The lie falls from his lips so easily – or maybe it was a truth, once upon a time, but he can't admit it's true now.

"Why?" Naruto demands, and he can feel the pain in the other's voice, feel the glass of his voice and of his being start to fracture. "Why? Why me? I didn't ask for your help!"

No one asks to have someone die in front of them. Especially not if Naruto likes him. Does it hurt as much as family does? Does it?

Sasuke can't make the guilt any greater. "I don't know…" he whispers, even as he feels his body fade. "My body… moved on its own…" He's crying, he realizes then, he's crying and he's going to die. "Idiot…"

He collapses. Naruto- Naruto catches him.

His arms are warm. Sasuke wonders when the last time he was held was. Held like this – not the hugs his fangirls flung on him before, that he tried to avoid, not the holds some people gained on him in sparring before he beat them, but like this. Naruto's arms are warm, and gentle, and he's oh-so-careful with Sasuke.

The other yells, and Sasuke tries not to cry more. He's dying, here. He gave his life for his teammate, and he'll never be able to kill his brother. Avenge his clan.

Somehow, that's never seemed less important.

Naruto's eyes are wide and big and blue, blue like the sky, and Sasuke tries to talk. Tries to tell him. "That man…" he whispers, staring at the blue, drowning in the blue. There's nothing left but the teary eyes of his teammate. "Until I… killed my brother… I absolutely refused to die… That's what I decided, but…"

But he decided to give his life for Naruto. He can't help it. Tears well up in his tired, black eyes and he tries to lift his hand. He wants to touch him, wants to touch Naruto, whose blue eyes now hide from him and he can't see them and please, please-

His arm is tired. He's not… he's not going to last.

"You… please…" He whispers, soft and quiet. "Don't… don't die." He thinks of the other. Thinks of this loud, boisterous boy who had been put on his team and who never gave up, who always bounced back, who wanted so desperately to be Hokage someday. His lips would curve into a smile if they could, but he's so tired. Too tired.

"Don't let your precious dream die."

* * *

Sasuke wakes up.

* * *

He doesn't talk about his "death". His teammates don't talk about his "death". Kakashi doesn't talk about his "death".

That's the way that Sasuke would prefer to have it, honestly. He doesn't want to talk about it. He doesn't want to talk about how he gave up on his dream, how he was willing to die for Naruto, how he gave his life in an instant and could only think of how he didn't want him to die, please please Naruto don't die live on live on and dream and

No. He doesn't really want to talk about it.

After a few days, though, Naruto has gotten over his Treat Sasuke Like He's Glass attitude and approaches him about a different question. One that Sasuke would prefer to talk to about even less.

It's all three of them. Sasuke is sharpening a kunai. Sakura is reading a book. Naruto- Naruto comes and plops down next to Sasuke. For a moment, the two of them ignore each other. Then-

"Sasuke, why… why do you want to kill your brother?"

Sasuke stiffens. Sakura stops reading. Naruto stares at his teammate with wide, wide blue eyes, blue enough to drown in. The Uchiha- Stops.

Breathes.

Stares at the wall.

"He… he killed my entire clan." It's been a long time since he's verbalized this, it's been a long time since he's spoken of this, and it feels so fragile. Tenterhooks. "I'm going to kill him."

Naruto doesn't react like any of the others. No pity, no 'I'm sorry', no none of that bullshit. Naruto has never reacted like the others. He never has. Never will.

He's scowling, instead. "Damn right you are! We'll help you. Right, Sakura?"

The girl starts at being addressed, but after a moment, meets Naruto's determined look with one of her own. "Yeah. We'll help you. We're… we're a team, right?"

Sasuke stares at them both with wide, wide eyes and then _snaps._ "He'll kill you!" He lunges to his feet, drops his kunai and snarls at them both. "He'll kill you! He'll kill you both, and I couldn't- I can't let you die, Naruto, I-"

He needs to stop talking. He shuts his mouth and he stalks out of the room and he slams the door behind them. No. No, they can't help. Itachi will kill them. Itachi will kill them just for being close to him, because Itachi wants him to have nothing in the world and

Sasuke won't let Naruto or Sakura die in front of him. Not if he can help it.


	3. Wave Arc: Interlude

Sasuke doesn't talk to his team for three days. He ignores Sakura. Doesn't look at Naruto. He speaks to their hosts when it's necessary, and he asks Kakashi for training every day, but the other two genin? They might as well not exist.

He can sense his teacher's disapproval every time he says no, but Sasuke doesn't care. They shouldn't have pried. Shouldn't have poked and prodded at all his weak spots until he feels like he'll break.

Teams don't make you strong. Teams make you _fragile._

He finds this out, truly, on the third day, when he demands training and Kakashi does his passive aggressive 'I'm so disappointed in you' eye smile and Kakashi finally says _yes_.

"But you're still recovering, Sasuke, so I'll just take Sakura and Naruto!"

Sasuke's glass of water almost – almost – shatters in his hands. He breathes in. Breathes out. And then shoves himself up from the table, pushing away and stalking out and ignoring the way that Sakura calls after him. He walks and walks and then runs and runs until he's through the town, down the path, up the hill – and he stops at their graves.

Zabuza's grave, and the boy named Haku.

He stares at them for a moment, stares at the sword of the deadly man who almost ended them, and the wooden figure marking the grave of the boy who could have killed him but showed mercy, and then he sits.

That's where Sakura finds him, almost a half hour later. She stops, hesitant, not wanting to go any close and disturb him, and that's when Sasuke speaks. "Sakura," he says, the first time he's talked to her in three days. "How did they die?"

She starts. "What?"

Sasuke glances at her, frowning. "How did Zabuza and Haku die? What happened after I-" He stops. After he died. After he passed out, after he-

No, he doesn't want to talk about that.

Sakura hesitates for a moment. She chews her lip – bad habit, you might bite through your lip while fighting or startled – and then she steps forward and sits next to him, carefully arranging her dress around herself as she folds her legs. "Well, I don't know what happened right afterwards, but after Naruto broke through the ice…"

She talks. She tells him how Naruto had managed to beat Haku, had almost killed him, but how Haku had sacrificed himself for Zabuza. She talks about how Gato had shown up and kicked Haku's corpse, how Inari and the villagers came, how Zabuza cut them all down and how Kakashi had carried Zabuza so he could die next to Haku and-

She's crying by the end of it, tearing up and emotional, and he doesn't flinch away when she leans into him. He allows it. Sakura needing comfort, Sakura seeking him – that's not new. That's normal. But Naruto managing to overpower and beat an opponent who could have killed Sasuke if he wanted to?

That's the farthest from normal.

They sit there together, quiet aside from Sakura's quiet tears as she tries to wrestle herself back under control, and Sasuke doesn't look at her. He gives her her privacy, because she's sensitive and brought to tears by others, and even if it's a weakness that will get stamped out he won't shame her for it.

Instead, after a few moments, he reaches down and curls a hand around her wrist. He says nothing. Does nothing more – but it seems to help, and she slowly relaxes.

After enough time has passed that it seems safe, he looks at her again. Her cheeks are blotchy and so are her eyes, but she's not crying anymore. "Sakura," he says, relieved. "Could you tell Naruto I want to talk to him?"

She seems disappointed, but nods, carefully getting to her feet and brushing herself off as he releases her. "I… okay, sure."

He hesitates. "…Thanks." She deserves that much, at least.

Sakura smiles, one of her genuine ones and not her fake 'cutesy' ones, and he thinks he made the right choice. "Any time, Sasuke!"

* * *

Sasuke can't accurately judge time out here yet – he knows approximate time, but he doesn't know the exacts – but it feels like ages until Naruto stalks up the road and plops next to him. Interestingly enough, on the opposite side, different from where Sakura had sat. He's ungainly, legs sprawled out in front of him and leaning back on his arms, and he scowls at Sasuke. "What d'you want, bastard? I was training, I was training!"

He's so relieved by the utter normalcy that it takes him a moment to respond. "How did you defeat him?" he asks, gesturing to the mist nin's grave.

Naturally, it takes Naruto a moment to catch up with the topic, but then he- pales, surprisingly, and looks away. "Why do you wanna know?"

Sasuke frowns. "I couldn't beat him. How could _you?_ "

Naruto whips his hair around to scowl at him. "Hey! I'm plenty strong, you know!"

"I beat you when we sparred, and that boy beat _me_."

Naruto's scowl deepens. "His name was Haku. And we…" He hesitates for a moment, torn, and forges on. He always forges on. "We met, before the battle. I met him in the forest when I was training. He… told me something, you know. Made me think."

The blonde looks up to meet Sasuke's eyes, intent and dead serious. Sasuke's breath catches in the back of his throat. "He said you get stronger when you protect your precious people."

There's so many holes in that explanation, Sasuke thinks. So many things that don't make sense – Naruto had to pull the power from SOMEWHERE, after all – but all he can think of is _does that make me one of your precious people, Naruto?_

It makes sense. Naruto likes him. But there's- there's a big difference between 'I'm like one of your fangirls, and I have a crush on you like so many others in the class' and… and _precious people._

He needs to re-evaluate. He needs to reassess. But right now Sasuke just needs to breathe, and he inhales and exhales and tries to speak. "Oh," is all he can say. "Oh."

There always has been more of an unspoken understanding with Naruto than there has been with Sakura, and the other boy smiles as if he had said something profound, breaking through the clouds like a ray. "Yeah. He was really smart."

Mm. Sasuke doesn't want to think about that, about the boy who had shown him mercy and then had died, so he cracks his neck and then stands up, stretching slightly. "Hn. Spar with me?"

Naruto lights up, bouncing up on his feet. "Yeah, yeah! Let's go!"

Sasuke beats him six times.

* * *

He doesn't seek out Kakashi until it's dark. Naruto and Sakura are asleep, sprawled out on the floor, when Sasuke clambers up onto the roof. His teacher is there, and Sasuke sits next to him, silent.

Kakashi, unfortunately, isn't the kind to break the silence. So after a few moments, Sasuke breaks the silence. "How did you get a Sharingan?"

He looks straight ahead and resolutely doesn't try to turn and see his teacher's face. There's a few moments of silence, and then Kakashi places a hand gently on Sasuke's head. "Maa. It's a long story."

Sasuke doesn't pull away. "I have time."

"Hm. So you do."

For the second time that day, Sasuke is told a story. He can tell there's plenty that Kakashi is leaving out, but it's really rather simple. Obito Uchiha was a failure of an Uchiha who was on Kakashi's genin team. While they were trying to rescue their third team member, he shoved Kakashi out of the way and died for him. Before he did, Kakashi's third teammate, Rin, transplanted his Sharingan into Kakashi's eye socket.

There's… it's a lot to take in. Sasuke doesn't reply for a little bit, after hearing that. How do you respond to such a story? He remembers how Kakashi had said all of his friends were on the memorial stone, and he swallows sharply. "Why… why didn't you tell me you had the Sharingan?"

Now, Sasuke finally looks at his teacher, and Kakashi looks down at him, one visible eye wider than normal. "I thought you knew. I thought your family would have told you."

It's painful, to think of them, when his pieces are only now sealing back together after the way his teammates prodded, but he shakes his head. "No, they never mentioned you to me."

Kakashi moves his hand to wrap around Sasuke's shoulder, pulling him into his side. Sasuke allows it. "Maa, I'm very sorry, then. I didn't mean to keep it a secret."

That was a relief. He got the Sharingan through normal circumstances (no corpse robbing), and he hadn't meant to hide it. That was… that was good. "Will you teach me how to use it tomorrow?"

Kakashi hums, and then nods. "Not too much, though, you are still healing."

"Hn."

He stays there, letting his teacher keep his hand and his arm on him, and doesn't shrug it off. He's too tired. Too tired to even get up and move away, no matter how embarrassed he'll be in the morning. He's sure that Kakashi won't let him forget it

Quietly, he vows to visit Obito Uchiha at the memorial stone as soon as they get back.


	4. Wave Arc: Interlude Two

**A/N:** Events in this chapter reference Naruto Shippuden Episode 180, "Inari's Courage Put To The Test".

* * *

Kakashi immediately goes back on his promise the next morning. Or, rather – Sasuke is expecting more, and what Kakashi gives him isn't satisfactory. When Kakashi said a little, he _meant_ it, teaching Sasuke was the different amount of tomoe in the eye mean, having him practice activating and de-activating, things that Sasuke would _know_ if he had grown up surrounded by Uchiha.

Instead, he's being taught by Kakashi.

They sit cross-legged in the same clearing where – was it really only days ago? – the team had learned to climb trees, and stare across at each other.

"Remember, Sasuke," Kakashi says, very serious. "You will remember _everything_ you see with your Sharingan activated."

He seems to be hinting at something, something important, but Sasuke can't see it and doesn't want to SHOW that he can't see it. He already knows this, anyway – he remembers not-dying as viscerally as if it had happened just a minute ago, and goosebumps go up on his arms. Kakashi notices, damn him.

His teacher eye-smiles at him. "Come on, let's go back to the house and see how the others are doing."

Sasuke frowns. "I still have chakra. We can train more." That Man had had his Sharingan for YEARS by the time he was Sasuke's age. He needs it, needs the training. Oh-so-badly.

Kakashi shakes his head. "You're still recovering. Not yet."

It's true, when Sasuke stands up, that he feels shaky. Unbalanced, and maybe a little queasy. Very, very tired. But that doesn't mean he couldn't keep pushing, couldn't keep going, and he shoves his hands into his pockets as he surly follows Kakashi back to the house. He's being underestimated, and he doesn't like it.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto aren't being underestimated, Sasuke thinks.

Countless Narutos dot the bridge, being ordered this way and that way by the workers. Kakashi says they won't leave until its done, and that they'll go home by walking instead of by boat, which means Naruto has been wholly enlisted to help out. The sooner they get back, the better.

There are so many Narutos, in fact, it's hard to find his other teammate amidst the mess. You'd think it'd be easy to find bright pink in the middle of bright yellow, but apparently not? Sasuke furrows his brow, and turns to his teacher to ask, before arms come up around his shoulders.

He stiffens. Barely resists the urge to toss the offending person over his shoulder – and Naruto's voice sounds in his ear. "Hey, hey, Sasuke, are you okay?"

It's just Naruto. Relaxing almost immediately, Sasuke glances to the side, to where his teammate is almost resting his chin on Sasuke's shoulder. The other's eyes are squinting at his face, mouth pulled into a thin line. "You don't look so good."

Before Sasuke can protest, Kakashi ruffles his hair. "He pushed himself too hard. Go take him over to Sakura, okay, Naruto?"

"Okay!" Naruto chirps, excessively loud _right next to Sasuke's ear_ , and the next thing the Uchiha knows is he's being dragged across the bridge and being manhandled into sitting firmly on a bench next to Sakura, who seems to have materialized from nowhere.

He blinks at her, and then blinks up at Naruto, who's gripping Sasuke's shoulders tightly and forcing him down on the bench. He obliges, and the blonde beams. "Good!" With that, he plops on the other side of Sasuke, and it's all of Team 7, sitting right there on the bench.

There's a few moment pause, Naruto swinging his legs and beaming, Sasuke staring straight ahead and contemplating _when the fuck his life reached this point_ , and then Sakura giggles. "It's nice to take a break," she says.

Sasuke finally looks at her again, frowning slightly. She swims before his eyes, a little blurry, but Sasuke ignores it. "What were you doing?"

She flushes underneath the attention and smiles. "I was helping out Naruto. The idiot doesn't know where to put all the wood and stuff he's carrying!"

Naruto _pouts._ "Hey, hey, I thought we were working _together_ , Sakura!"

The girl grins mischievously, shrugging. "Maa, maa," she says, imitating their lazy, lazy teacher. "Maybe. I think _I_ was doing most of the work."

"Sakura!"

They bicker, him sandwiched between them, and Sasuke lets it wash over him. He doesn't mind this. It's okay to be between them, to let them talk, and to not actually engage. Since he's part of this team, he needs to work with them. Since he's part of this team, being able to trust them enough to watch his back is probably necessary.

But it doesn't mean that he has to be friends with them, or trust in them for more than fighting, and he closes his eyes as their bickering fades into the noise of the waves.

* * *

When he wakes, it's morning. He hadn't realized he was that tired, and as he checks his chakra levels, he begrudgingly has to admit Kakashi was right. He had exhausted himself, and it galls to be that week.

Something had happened when he was asleep, it seems, and it means that Sakura gives him more attention than normal, that she's terribly, terribly mad at Naruto, and Naruto seems to waver between being terrified of her and unable to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke promptly decides he really, _really_ doesn't want to know.

* * *

It takes them almost a week more until the bridge is done. Kakashi trains Sasuke on his Sharingan every other day until the world goes woozy, and he spends the off day recuperating and watching Sakura and Naruto work on the bridge. He's pretty positive that if it isn't for his blonde teammate, they wouldn't be leaving this quickly.

Kakashi does know what he's doing. Sometimes.

Of course, the moment they leave it turns out Naruto forgot a _ramen ticket_ and they go back, and embroil themselves in a fight to save Inari, and then end up taking out at least a dozen thugs. Fun, even if they weren't ninja.

Naruto can't seem to be happy with the whole _winning a battle on their own without their teacher_ thing, though, and bawls the whole way back to Sakura and Kakashi about his "poor, poor free ramen ticket!"

Finally, Sasuke _snaps._ "I'll treat you to ramen when we get back if you just _shut up!_ "

Naruto looks like Sasuke's given him the Hokage hat. "You _will?_ _ **Really?**_ "

"Yes!"

He ends up tackled in a hug by the moron, and of course _that's_ when Kakashi decides to jump down from the trees and congratulate them on a job well-done. "You did well, my cute little students!"

Sasuke curses him out under his breath.

* * *

A few hours later, he curses _himself_ out under his breath as they head back to Konoha because him and Naruto? Going to ramen together as Sasuke's treat?

 _That sounds like a date._ No _wonder_ Naruto had hugged him for that.

* * *

Thankfully – or not-so-thankfully, depending on your perspective – they can move a lot quicker without Tazuna with them. Kakashi teaches them all the traditional Konoha tree-jumping, now that they had mastered the whole 'sticking to a tree' thing. Add in using chakra to make longer jumps, and they are moving far more quickly.

Sasuke would have thought they'd move at Sakura's pace, resting when she needed to rest, or maybe letting Kakashi or a Naruto clone carry her when she tired. He's wrong, and it's humiliating.

He's exhausted from his constant Sharingan practices, and it looks like Kakashi is swallowing down an 'I told you so' when Sasuke starts flagging. At first, neither of his teammates notice. Sasuke starts lagging behind more and more until finally he jumps and doesn't- doesn't _quite_ reach the next branch.

He reaches out desperately with one hand, trying to catch himself that way at least but his fingers fall short and he's falling and falling and-

Kakashi scoops him out of the air, cradling him like a child. He lands lightly on the ground, with Sakura and Naruto quickly following suit after a moment. "If you're too tired, Sasuke, you need to tell me," he chides, and the Uchiha is ashamed to realize he's breathing heavily, almost panting.

Both his teammates' brows are knit with worry, and Sakura reaches out to put her hand on his forehead. "He's hot, Kakashi-sensei," she tells him, and Sasuke frowns.

"I'm fine," he protests, trying to squirm his way out of his teacher's arms. Kakashi holds fast.

"Sasuke," he says, in the tone of one speaking to a small, dimwitted child. "You almost died-" And didn't Naruto flinch at _that_ \- "And then you pushed yourself too hard. You've exhausted your chakra, and you made yourself _sick_."

Naruto peered into Sasuke's face, getting so close their noses almost touched and Sasuke went crosseyed, before pulling back. "He'll be fine, right?"

Kakashi nods, and then says, with what seems to be _glee_ in his voice, "I'll have to carry him the rest of the way."

Sasuke closes his eyes at that point. Just let him die, honestly.

Sharingan or no, he's ready for this thoroughly _humiliating_ mission to be over.


	5. Returning Home

They weren't talking about the last leg of the run home.

"We're not talking about it," Sasuke says, his cheeks aflame. He tries to ignore it. It's just because he's sick – no, no, damn it, he's not sick. He's just warm. It's a hot night!

Naruto still hasn't wiped that stupid, stupid grin off his face. He's been wearing it ever since Sasuke fell asleep about a half hour into his "ride". (Well, Sasuke assumes it started then. He was asleep, after all.)

Sakura, by contrast, is practically glowing. "But Sasuke, you were _so cute_!" she squeals, and the Uchiha is struck by the sudden urge to claw off his own ears.

Instead, his cheeks burn even more. "I was _not_."

Naruto cackles. "Yeah, Sasuke, you were sooooooooooooo cute!"

"Now, now," Kakashi intervenes, ambling away from the two gate guards, and Sasuke feels a hopeful tinge well up inside of him. Their teacher ruffles Sakura and Naruto's hair, eye-smiling at them all as the duo squawks. " _All_ of my students are cute." There's a single moment of blessed relief, before he _has_ to open his masked mouth again. "But you're right, Sasuke _was_ very adorable."

Sakura giggles and Naruto guffaws and that is _it._ He turns on his heel, ignoring the way they hush behind him as he marches past the startled guards. It doesn't matter that his vision is starting to tunnel – he knows the well-trodden path to the Hokage Tower and could walk it in his sleep. Still, not being able to see out the side is dangerous, so he blinks. Once, twice, a third time-

and then Kakashi is right in front of him.

He stumbles to a stop and Kakashi reaches out, gently taking his shoulder to stabilize him. Resentment and gratitude well up alike, and he stomps it down. "Sasuke," the other says, and Sasuke stares at his teacher's vest, refusing to look up. "I need to take you to the hospital. You're sick, and you got severely injured on this mission. You need to see a mednin."

Sasuke knows his teacher is right – he's not arguing that – but he doesn't want to. He doesn't want to be poked and prodded by some mednin who will probably coo over the "poor last Uchiha" and sleep in a bed that's not his own and the hospital always makes him remember the blood and the sweat and the-

He stops. Boxes that thought up, tucks it away, and tries not to taste the bile in his throat.

Kakashi's face is unreadable when he finally looks up, and Sasuke's grateful. He doesn't know how much of his tangled mess of thoughts were on his face, and he doesn't want to deal with his teacher's pity. It takes three swallows before he feels able to speak, and even then, he just gives a slight shrug and a "Fine."

Nothing changes about his teacher's face, but he nods to the other two genin. "Naruto. Sakura. I'll meet you in the Hokage's office."

And then he teleports them away.

* * *

Sasuke isn't too surprised that Kakashi doesn't stick around. He spends just a few moments talking to one of the civilian nurses – explaining the situation, no doubt – and then he's gone.

Sasuke tries not to feel any resentment for that. It's not hard. He can't really feel much more emotion than exhaustion.

They check his temperature, run tests involving chakra that he's not even close to comprehending, have him take off his shirt so they can examine any remaining puncture wounds from the needles. It's standard. Everything makes sense.

But it doesn't stop him from staring at the wall, from not looking at a single soul, from trying deep breath exercises and then cringing because there's such a distinct hospital smell-

The last time he was in here, everyone was dead.

They still are.

* * *

They give him a drug to make him sleep, and Sasuke doesn't wake up for two more days. He knows his teammates have been here when he wakes – there's a bouquet of flowers in a vase, and a covered container of ramen, now cold, sitting on the bedside table.

(He doesn't eat it. He throws up, instead, dry-heaving into the toilet and trying desperately to block out the scent of antiseptics.)

To be honest, Sasuke's more impressed by the flowers. He knows Sakura and Ino aren't friends anymore, haven't been for years, though he wasn't sure why they stopped.

It says a lot.

* * *

Kakashi doesn't show when they let him out of the hospital, later that day. Naruto doesn't, either. But Sakura does, and she gives him a big grin as he leaves his room. "Hey, Sasuke! Glad to see you up!" she chirps, and Sasuke takes one moment to curse the universe for giving him _incredibly cheerful teammates_ before he shoves his hands in his pockets and falls into step with her.

"Why are you here?"

She pouts. Probably trying to look cute. "You've been asleep! And I thought _someone_ should walk you home." He stiffens at the thought, but either Sakura doesn't notice or she doesn't comment. "I don't know where Kakashi-sensei is, but Naruto's off doing something with Iruka-sensei. So I thought I'd pick you up!"

Sasuke thinks he's grateful for it. Maybe. But he doesn't say it, instead giving a sharp nod. "I need to sign out."

"Right!"

Sakura babbles the whole way, and Sasuke feels himself unloosening, just slightly. Apparently, Team 10 had taken on a C-rank since they left, but it was nothing like theirs. Team 8 hadn't yet. Kurenai and Asuma were probably dating. Kakashi seemed very distracted about something.

He signed his name neatly and led the way out – but the scent of the hospital stayed with him.

"Sasuke!" The Uchiha sighed, focusing his attention on Sakura again. She giggled, blushing a little and biting her lip. "We don't have to rush back, you know. We could do something. Shopping… Lunch…"

"Fine."

The word is out of his mouth before he even thinks about it, and Sakura looks as surprised as he feels. "Really!?"

He doesn't want to go home, and he desperately needs to chase the scent of the hospital from him. Sakura's perfume, flowery and strong, is a great start to that – and sure, he wouldn't mind food. He hasn't eaten in a few days, after all. Sasuke shrugs. "Sure. Lunch sounds good."

(Nothing stayed down at the hospital.)

She _beams_ , bright and happy in a way that he's never seen her before, and hooks her arm into his, faintly dragging him off. They're going to a barbeque place, is what Sasuke manages to grab from her excited chatter, and the rest he can barely absorb.

He's _tired_. Hopefully he doesn't fall asleep right in his food – he'd never ever hear the end of it from Naruto if he did.

Sasuke's barely paying attention to where he's being dragged (he does trust Sakura not to kill him), so it takes him a moment before he realizes someone's calling his name. "Uchiha! Oy, Uchiha!"

He blinks, and realizes he's in the restaurant. He's been here before – sometime, somewhen, he recognizes it faintly – and Shikamaru is calling him. Sasuke skims the room before he manages to spot him, sitting at a table with Chouji and waving him down.

The boy obliges, pulling Sakura along for the ride as he approaches the other genin. "Nara," he greets, stuffing both his hands in his pockets. "What?"

Shikamaru grins. "I heard you two had a rather _eventful_ C-rank. Want to join us and share?"

Sasuke exchanges a glance with Sakura. She grimaces, and he frowns slightly. It doesn't sound tempting… Chouji pipes up, swallowing his bite. "My family owns the restaurant. Eat with us, and it's on the house!"

The hole he's been slowing burning in the Uchiha clan savings weighs on him for a moment, and the boy sighs, before plopping down next to Chouji. "Fine. Sakura could probably tell you better than me, anyway."

She blushes, even as Shikamaru turns to give her a considering look. "Oh yeah?"

Sasuke is so very relieved when Sakura takes him up on that prompt. She talks about Tazuna, how they had been tricked, the situation in Wave, everything. She speaks of Haku and Zabuza and how they were ultimately tragic, in the end, a tragic pair of missing-nin that maybe should have lived another day.

He slowly eats his barbeque and doesn't say a word.

Not until Chouji reaches over, giving his shoulder a slight, comforting squeeze. "You were really brave, Sasuke," he says, and Sasuke pauses. Doesn't know how to respond to that.

Sakura nods. "He was, wasn't he?" She pauses, and looks down. "When I saw you lying there, it was-"

His food drops back on his plate. He gets up, shoving himself away from the table, and the three there stare at him with wide eyes. "I have to get home."

"Hey, hey, Uchiha, we can change the topic if you want-" Shikamaru is already hurrying to reassure him, but Sasuke ignores the Nara, turning to Chouji.

"Thank you for the meal," he says, and half-manages a flicker of a smile for the boy, before he turns and he's gone.

It reminds him of his exit from a few days ago, leaving his team in the dust, but this time he manages to get away. He ducks through the trailing crowds of people, ignores every single call of his name and greeting tossed his way, until everything starts to thin.

He slows.

The closer and closer he gets to the Uchiha district, the more notable it becomes. There's no reason for anyone else to come here. It's deserted – and soon, he's the only one walking down a quiet street.

Sasuke rarely goes into most homes. Only when he needs something, like when he starts to outgrow his current clothes, or he's out of shuriken, or something. Anything.

There's only one home he returns to every single day.

He raps on the door to said house. Takes off his shoes and sets them by the entrance. "I'm home," he says quietly into the empty building, filled with nothing but ghosts, and shuts the door behind him.


	6. A Date and a New Face

**A/N:** The episode referenced in this chapter is Naruto Shippuden Episode 469, "A Special Mission".

* * *

The next two days, Sasuke has off. Suddenly, with no schedule to guide him, he realizes how much he desperately needs it. When he attended the Academy, he went to school almost every day and worked on homework and training until he dropped on the others. Now that he's a genin, he's had training in the morning and then missions after – he really has no idea what to do with himself.

On the first day, he tries to mend some of his clothes. The shirt he "died" in is relegated to the scrap heap, and he uses part of that to clumsily patch a hole in another shirt's sleeve. It's nothing he's particularly proud of (all the practice in the world doesn't erase the fact that no one taught him how to sew), but it'll hold up. He can wear it for training.

It takes him far too long, though, and he shoves the other shirts aside for later. He'll go for a walk, instead. Pack a lunch. 'Take it easy', like the mednin ordered.

Carefully assessing what food he has, and throwing out most of what's in his fridge, he ditches that thought. He'll have to go grocery shopping when he's out, and start stocking up on less perishable food. If he has no idea when he'll leave for a longer mission (and he didn't this past time), he can't keep a lot of perishable food onhand.

Ugh. He needs more tomatoes.

Fortunately, as he ambles down the street with hopefully enough money tucked into his pocket, he doesn't run into anyone he knows. Sasuke thinks it's probably because they're busy with training, or missions – unlike him. It's aggravating, having this time off, even if his body may "need" it. He's just contemplating whether he should grab lunch and shop or the other way around when he hears a familiar voice behind him. "Sasuke!"

The Uchiha stops, half-turning as Naruto dashes up, grinning a mile a minute. "You're out of the hospital!"

Sasuke lifts an eyebrow as the blonde halts only inches away. "I got out yesterday."

"Oh! Okay!" His smile is almost blinding. "I just went to visit you and they said you were gone already so I've been walking around and-"

Sasuke tunes him out, turning to continue his walk. "Oy, oy, _Sasuke!_ "

Naruto grabs him, swinging an arm around his teammate's neck and half-stopping, half-choking him. The Uchiha turns a baleful glare on him. He's pretty sure the blonde doesn't even notice. "Bastard, have you eaten lunch yet?" Sasuke says nothing. Naruto seems to take that as a negative. "C'mon, then, you owe me ramen!"

His teammate isn't _technically_ wrong, so Sasuke sighs, nodding slightly and grimacing when the blonde lets go with a crow of delight. He's not really looking forward to this… date. Hopefully even Naruto isn't stupid enough to read more into it.

Naruto leads the way, chattering a mile a minute – at a volume that makes Sasuke wince – and the Uchiha follows behind, trying to pretend he's not horribly embarrassed by this whole affair. He's not sure how well he succeeds. (Probably not at all.)

"Hey, hey, old man Teuchi!" Naruto yells as he plops down on one of Ichiraku's stools. "Sasuke's treating me to ramen!"

Sasuke carefully ignores the cook's eyes as he takes his own seat, staring down at the counter as a flush rises in his cheeks. Still, he can practically hear Teuchi's smile. "Is that so? Well, what can I get you boys today?"

"Miso ramen, miso ramen! Er, please!"

Sasuke nods, adding quietly. "I'll have the same."

"Coming right up!"

It's only when Teuchi disappears into the back of the stand that Sasuke can breathe, looking up finally. Naruto's grinning at him, fit to rival the sun. "Thanks for the ramen, Sasuke!"

Sasuke shrugs, really _really_ not wanting to make a big deal out of this. "I had to eat anyway."

Naruto doesn't waver. "Still! Only Iruka-sensei ever treats me!"

Okay, Sasuke has to admit he's curious. He knows – everyone does – that the two are close, and yet… "Why does Iruka-sensei take you out for ramen?" He's pretty sure their old teacher hasn't done that for anyone else, no matter how kind he is.

The blonde's smile falters, and then fades. "He… he says I remind him a lot of himself, when he was younger," he says slowly, one hand moving to curl in his shirt above his stomach.

There's a lot to process about that, that he could focus on right now. The emotional upheaval that questions seems to bring, the words themselves, Naruto's whole shift in mood – but Sasuke simply smirks. "If Iruka-sensei used to be like _you_ , I guess there's hope for you yet."

Naruto's mouth drops open, and he flaps his lips uselessly for a moment – like a fish, Sasuke notes with amusement – before he jabs his finger dramatically into Sasuke's chest. He scowls. "I'm just as good as-"

"Here you are!" announces Teuchi, dropping both of their steaming bowls of miso ramen in front of them. He smiles warmly at the two of them – probably timing his entrance just right. "Enjoy!"

Sasuke looks at Naruto. Naruto looks at Sasuke. Sasuke breaks his chopsticks apart. Naruto huffs, and gives him, reaching for his own. Teuchi watches them both, eyes sparkling, before retreating to the back.

Unfortunately, that means there's no one there to distract him from the sight of Naruto wolfing down _four bowls of ramen_. It's disgusting. Sasuke's more than a little horrified – and can barely finish his own. "Guess that explains your stamina," he finally manages as Naruto slurps up the noodles of his last bowl.

Naruto swallows, and squints at him. "Stami- what?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Stamina. You've got a lot, which means you don't get tired very easily."

"Ohhhhh!" Naruto nods, comprehension finally dawning. "I dunno if that's cause I eat a lot of ramen." Completely missing the point – he… really hadn't been serious – Naruto frowns thoughtfully. "It might be because-" He stops.

Sasuke's brow furrows. Naruto almost looks… worried. "Naruto? Because…?"

The blonde shakes his head. "Because nothing! Nothing, nothing," he says, giving a nervous giggle. "Probably all the ramen, you're right." He nods rapidly, overcompensating. "I always _knew_ ramen was amazing!"

Sasuke opens his mouth, and then shuts it. Naruto is the worst liar he's ever had the misfortune to meet, and he can't bring himself to care about whatever stupid thing his teammate is trying to hide. "…Sure."

He looks away from the palpable _relief_ written on Naruto's face, pulling out his money and instead carefully counting out a stack of bills. Setting them on the counter, Sasuke hops off his stool, shoving his hands in his pockets. "That should be enough. Later."

"Uh, okay, bye, Sasuke!"

Naruto doesn't chase after him.

* * *

His second day is filled with patching clothes and grocery shopping (yes, he completely forgot after eating with Naruto) and finding a note from Kakashi telling him to meet up the next day for a mission.

And just like that, it's as if none of it ever happens.

They're chasing after Tora, painting houses, gardening, running errands, doing all sorts of meaningless D-ranks as if they hadn't tackled missing-nin, saved Kakashi, or even- even died. As if none of it had ever happened, as if they hadn't been scrambling for skills to try to defeat people far above their level, they're working on their tree climbing, drills, reaffirming their basic skills –

It's why when Naruto proposes an S-ranked "mission" to see under Kakashi's mask, and a strange photographer steps up to help, Sasuke says yes.

Anything is better than that. Anything is better than this.

* * *

They fail, of course.

Sasuke's not too surprised, but he's still disappointed. He does very much want to see Kakashi's face – but more than that, he wanted to prove that he could do something. Even with all the genin working together, they couldn't accomplish it, not because of that other genin team.

(Privately, Sasuke swears a little vengeance on them.)

…

(Privately, he'll also admit the whole adventure was kind of fun.)

All nine of them get together afterwards for dinner – Chouji's treat – and no one bothers Sasuke about the mission where he you-know-what. Sure, Ino's clingy and Sasuke very carefully maneuvers himself _away_ from her and Sakura, but Shino and Chouji are calming balms, Kiba fights with Naruto, Hinata is still the only girl he can fully tolerate (though, he will admit, Sakura is getting better), and Shikamaru slides some barbeque onto Sasuke's plate as an apology the Uchiha recognizes.

It wasn't all bad, even if it was a bit of a waste of time.

Especially because it gives him an idea.

* * *

He waits exactly three days before he tries to break into the Ninja Registration archives again. Sasuke figures that's enough time for them to lose their suspicion – and maybe he was right. He's not sure.

But he's caught, either way.

Kakashi sighs, squatting on the rooftop next to where the ANBU had unceremoniously dropped Sasuke. "Sasuke, Sasuke, my cute little genin… what am I going to do with you?" He doesn't answer, and his teacher shakes his head. "I'm going to have to tell the Hokage about this, you know. Why would you break into the archives like that…?"

Sasuke doesn't look at his teacher. He very, very resolutely doesn't look at his teacher. Instead, he looks at the roof, picking out each individual rock and crack and little contour he can see. "I wanted to find _his_ form."

Kakashi doesn't ask who.

They sit there in silence for a few moments – or, rather, Sasuke sits and Kakashi squats – before his teacher finally sighs. "You know you're not allowed to see it, right?" Sasuke doesn't answer. "…You know you'll get in more trouble if you try again, right?" Sasuke still doesn't answer.

His teacher tips his head back and stares up at the sky. "Why do I have such stubborn little genin?" Kakashi reaches out and bops Sasuke lightly on the head. "If I introduce you to someone who worked with Itachi, will you stop?"

Sasuke's head snaps up, and he stares at his teacher wide-eyed. "Yes," he says without even thinking about it, eyes fixated on the man.

Kakashi eye-smiles, giving him a pat this time. "Good. Be at the bridge an hour early tomorrow."

* * *

Sasuke, in fact, shows up an hour and a half early.

He can't remember the last time he was this excited about something, this eager to learn. It finally, _finally_ feels like he's getting closer to defeating Him – something he's honestly needed since he almost gave up on his dream.

Even though he's early, there's a man waiting for him at the bridge. He looks about Kakashi's age, with long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, and as he turns slightly at Sasuke's arrival, the genin can see he wears a strangely-styled forehead protector.

The man gives him a nod, the faintest trace of a smile on his lips. "You must be Sasuke." He holds out a hand, offering it up for a shake. "My name is Yamato."


	7. A New Mission

**A/N:** The episode referenced in this chapter is Naruto Shippuden Episode 181, "Naruto's School Of Revenge".

* * *

Hesitantly, Sasuke reaches out to shake Yamato's hand. He's not. Sure what to expect from this man who he has NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN HIS LIFE, and it's kind of unnerving. Usually, he knows at least a little better than this. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke," he introduces himself, despite the pointlessness of it all.

Yamato chuckles slightly, his handshake warm and firm, and withdraws his hand. "I know." He sobers, just a little. "Kakashi-senpai told me you wanted to talk about your brother?"

Brother. The word sits uncomfortably in the air, and Sasuke can't quite manage to hide his scowl. THAT MAN is in no way his brother, not anymore, never again, and it makes him feel ill to here him called such. Yamato's face twists into something a little softer, and the Uchiha looks away - he won't accept any pity. There's a moment of silence, his hands clenching into fists, before Yamato clears his throat and breaks through the boy's anger. "What did you want to start with, Sasuke?"

It's staggering. The amount of questions he could ask, information he could get, that it's both overwhelming and pointless at the same time. It's been almost five years, now - his fighting style will have changed and developed. THAT MAN'S personality doesn't matter, not now. He's evil, the worst of the worst, and knowing how he was as a child won't help him succeed. Sasuke looks up, meeting Yamato's eyes, and his tongue locks in his mouth. What does he ask- What can he say-

He hates this. How a simple conversation about THAT MAN reduces him to silence, to feeling as though he's on the verge of breaking.

That soft look hasn't left Yamato's face - it looks WRONG, there, not a man meant for that soft look - and he speaks again. "How about I tell you a story of one of our non-classified missions?"

Sasuke is so grateful he despises it. He gives Yamato a short nod, and they sit together, folding their legs as they face each other on the bridge. "Most of my missions with Itachi are classified, but there were a few that were not," he says, his face pulling into a slight frown as he thinks. "But there was one where we had to retrieve a statue for a client..."

After a moment, he nods slightly to himself. "Yes. That one." Sasuke leans forward in anticipation. "It was about… six or so years ago, now. My team was myself, Kakashi-senpai, Shisui, and Itachi – all very good at genjutsu. You see, we had to retrieve the statue for Lady Tomi, but _not_ let a single soul recognize us."

He gives a small smile. "Seems simple? It was… an interesting mission. You see, everything started going wrong when…"

* * *

"…finally, Shisui managed to whack the officer in the face with one of his cabbages, and we ran like hell to get out of there."

To be honest, Sasuke hadn't been expecting anything but pain when he was to hear a story of Itachi. But Yamato-sensei? Is actually good at storytelling, and slowly but surely, a small smile has been spreading across the young boy's face.

"They didn't catch you?"

Yamato-sensei shakes his head. "No. They were civilians, all of them – it's easy enough to seem faster than normal by boosting just a small amount of chakra to your legs, but not enough that people will know you have to be a shinobi."

Sasuke mentally notes that down, as he has a lot of things Yamato-sensei mentioned over the course of his story. Mostly infiltration tactics, which he's not sure will come in handy while trying to take down his brother, but they should be somewhat useful for at least one mission along the way.

Besides. You never know when a skill might be useful, and he'd be a fool to pass up on any sort of training just _because._

There was something he noticed, though – throughout his tale, Yamato-sensei had seemed… unmistakably _fond_ of the others on his team. Kakashi makes sense; even years later, Yamato-sensei seems close to Sasuke's sensei. Itachi and Shisui, though… "Were you close with them? Shisui and… him?"

Yamato-sensei smiles, a soft, sad smile. "Itachi was… a little too young, then, for me to really consider us friends. We were comrades. But I was… close, to Shisui." Sasuke wonders, then, that he had never heard the name 'Yamato' pass from Shisui's lips. Why had his cousin not mentioned Yamato-sensei to him? And, for further matter, why had _Kakashi_ not mentioned that he had dealt with Itachi before, as well?

The boy frowns slightly. "Yamato-sensei," he says, noticing the small _start_ that Yamato-sensei makes at his name, "Why did-"

He can't finish his sentence. "Sasuke!" calls a familiar female voice, and the Uchiha suppresses a groan as he turns. Sakura is walking down the street – no, running, picking up the pace at his attention and waving, a giant grin starting to form on her face.

Damn it all.

"Sasuke!" she chirps again, literally _jumping_ to a halt, bouncing the last few steps and landing firmly a few steps behind her teammate. "Who's your friend?" She squints at Yamato-sensei, suspicious, but doesn't get rid of her smile. (She looks like she's in pain.)

"This is Yamato-sensei," Sasuke says, and the brunette starts _again_ at the sound of his name. (Seriously, what's with that?) "He's giving me some extra training."

Her eyes light up, and she plops down right next to him, their knees banging. Sasuke very carefully doesn't wince. "I want extra training, too! Teach me, teach me, Yamato-sensei! My name's Haruno Sakura, and I was the top kunoichi in the academy!"

It's a stark reminder that though Sakura seems _weak,_ oh so weak, she's actually extremely _intelligent_ , so Sasuke glances sideways at her as he turns back around to face Yamato-sensei. He doesn't want her assistance with Itachi – never, never ever – but if he presented a situation as a hypothetical, maybe she'd have _something_ good to say…

Or maybe it would at least make her a little more serious about training or anything, really, he'd take just about anything.

Yamato-sensei doesn't appear to be on the same page as Sakura, and he grimaces. "Kakashi-senpai is your sensei, you two, not me… I really should be going, anyway. Isn't it almost time for you to start training?"

Sakura pouts, puffing out her cheeks. (It's a decidedly cuter look than the one she wore just moments ago.) "Kakashi-sensei's always late! And he never teaches us _anything_!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Both of the genin whip around, nearly falling over at the sight of _Kakashi standing right in front of them._ They pale. They see their life flash before their eyes.

Kakashi is on time.

Yamato-sensei sounds so profoundly relieved behind them that Sasuke hates him for just a moment. "Kakashi-senpai! Perfect timing! I was just about to wrap it up!"

Their sensei smiles at the brunette, his eye crinkling. "Thank you, Yamato. I'll see you later."

Sasuke manages to tear his terrified eyes away from his teacher long enough to give Yamato a slight bow. "Thank you, Yamato-sensei. Can we meet again sometime?"

Yamato smiles, just a little. "Of course. It was nice to meet you, Sasuke, Sakura." And then he's gone, and the two genin are left along with the _on time Kakashi._

The Uchiha isn't sure anything more can frighten him. Kakashi pulls out his book, holding it in front of his face, and meets Sasuke's eyes steadily with his own. "Now," he murmurs, his voice a quiet curiosity. "Is there any reason he's Yamato- _sensei_ and I'm just Kakashi?"

Sasuke isn't sure he's getting out of this one alive.

Thankfully – and god, is Sasuke so thankful he could kiss him right this very moment – Naruto bumbles in. (Seriously, Sasuke could kiss him. He shoves that thought far, far away and locks it up with a key.) "Oy, oy, I was almost late!" Naruto practically shouts, running full tilt down the road towards the bridge, behind Kakashi. "I can't believe I fell asleep after-"

His teammates can tell the exact moment he sees their teacher, because Naruto stops in the middle of the road, gaping. "K-Kakashi-sensei!" he stammers, and Kakashi turns slowly, oh-so-slowly, the impending doom growing in the air. "You're- why are you here!?"

"Maa, maa," says Kakashi. "You're late, Naruto."

The blonde sputters. "B-But you're always late!" He yells, pointing a finger accusingly at their teacher. "Who cares if I'm just a few minutes late if you're not gonna be here anyway!?"

Privately, Sasuke agrees. Privately, Sasuke has wanted to yell those few choice words at his teacher before. Privately – okay, not so privately – he thinks _Naruto is a colossal idiot for actually saying them._

Kakashi closes his book and puts it in his pocket. He leans forward, towards Naruto, and smiles very, very carefully. "A shinobi should always be on time, Naruto!" he chirps – oh god he _chirps._ His demeanor darkens. "If you think it's okay to be late just because your clients are… well! Guess it's time for more training, huh?"

 _Mother, Father,_ Sasuke thinks, staring at his teacher. _It'll be good to see you again._

* * *

Over an hour later, the Uchiha desperately wishes that were the case. He's sure all his teammates agree with him, actually. He can't feel anything.

His limbs tingle from sheer exhaustion, weak and unable to move, he think he still has a streak of dirt coating half his face, and he definitely pulled at _least_ one muscle. Leaning against this tree is about all he can do right now.

Sakura, slumped into his side, is worse off. She threw up about a half hour ago, wiped her mouth, and just kept running. Her knee is skinned and bleeding, her dress is torn at the hem, and he honestly doesn't think she has the strength to sit up properly. He doesn't have the strength to push her off his shoulder. (Okay, okay, he just doesn't mind it.)

Naruto looks the best out of the three of them, and Sasuke kind of hates him. Unlike Sasuke, who had collapsed by the tree when his legs finally gave out, and slowly managed a sitting position, or Sakura, who had collapsed midrun and been carried over by Kakashi afterwards, Naruto made it to the tree under his own power. He complained the whole way, and his frontside was covered in mud, his jacket torn, but he still made it there under his own power. Right now, though, he's leaning into Sasuke's other side, asleep and snoring softly.

Turns out? Kakashi can be absolutely vicious at training when provoked. The three of them have been chased around by all of Kakashi's dogs for about an hour, and it's _exhausting._

The man in question approaches, looming over them, and both Sakura and Sasuke turn bleary glares on him. He leans down, eye-smiling at both of them. "Well, now, my cute little genin! It's time for our next task!"

Sasuke can't help it – he groans. Kakashi giggles. Giggles! A grown man shouldn't giggle! He waves a small scroll in front of them. "We have a mission! Pack for two days, and meet in the front gate in an hour. Wake Naruto and tell him." And then he's gone.

"…I'm going to murder him," Sakura says, with absolute finality.

"I'll be your alibi," Sasuke replies without missing a beat.

That decided, the two of them shove themselves to their feet, half-leaning on each other and half on the tree. _That_ means Naruto falls over, and he wakes up with a shout and _that_ means the two of them have to explain the situation to their third teammate, and hear his curses fill the air.

"We're going to kill him," Sakura tells him.

Naruto jumps, pumping his fist in the air. "Damn right! Damn right, that bastard! Ughhhh!" He slumps over, and then squints at the other two. "Uh, are you guys gonna make it home? You look kinda… tired."

Sasuke, currently throwing all of his weight on the tree behind him, balefully glares at him. He wants to say he can – his pride demands it – but he knows he. Actually can't.

Sakura is more than willing to admit it, though, and shakes her head. "I'm too tired."

The blonde beams. "I can help, I can help!" He makes a familiar seal, and two shadow clones pop into existence right next to him. "Look, they can each help you home!"

Immediately, the clones drop to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who takes Sakura home. They tie on paper. They tie on rock. They tie on Scissors. Finally, as they try a fourth time, Sasuke takes a step forward and leans into the nearest Naruto. "You get me," he tells it.

The clone blinks at him, surprised, before shrugging. "If you say so, Sasuke," it says, wrapping an arm around him.

They part ways, and the silence… is. It's not uncomfortable, or comfortable, or anything else, just is. They don't talk as the clone helps Sasuke home, and the only sound is Sasuke's heavy breathing that slowly evens out as they go on, in the same way he puts less and less weight on the clone as they walk.

Finally, he feels he can stand on his own feet, and he pulls away from the clone. "I can get back the rest of the way by myself," he tells it. "You can dispel."

The clone grins a little, tipping his head to the side. "Well, okay, Sasuke," it agrees. "But- you know I'm the original, right?" Sasuke didn't. Naruto laughs, just a little, eyes closing. "See you in a bit, Sasuke! I gotta pack!"

Sasuke stands and watches him until he disappears.

* * *

It doesn't take him long to throw together enough supplies to cover two days, shower, change, and eat, and so he ends up the first one at the gate. The second is Sakura, who greets him with a smile – she's looking a little better. Naruto is the third, racing up from behind and greeting them both with loud, joyous yelling.

Kakashi finally shows up, only twenty minutes late.

Sasuke, however, is completely unimpressed by the contents of their mission. "We're retrieving an _ostrich_?" he asks incredulously. "Named _Condor_?" He's pretty certain this is _worse_ than the cat. And after today, he has dealt with too many animals. Dogs are enough. He doesn't want to deal with a misnamed _bird_ on top of it all.

Kakashi shrugs. "Maa, maa, it's an easy enough mission." He eye smiles at them. "A good choice after this morning, no? And you get to leave the village!"

There's not much they can say to that, and they start walking.

Naruto takes point, running ahead with another loud yell, and Sakura follows, scolding him slightly. It's funny, Sasuke thinks. He doesn't realize how much being out of the village takes… a weight off his neck, until he actually takes a step out and the pressure rolls away. He can't pinpoint _why_ , but it _does._

Kakashi glances at him out of the corner of his eye, falling in step, and the boy knows he noticed. It grates him at him a little, but still, if it means they take more missions outside the village, he'll take the small blow to his pride.

It'd be worth it.

* * *

Unfortunately, they move slow. Sasuke's sure it's because of their beatdown earlier that day – while he feels _better_ , he's still exhausted, and starts noticeably wavering far faster than normal. Sakura is the same, falling from her point position until she's trailing after Sasuke, dogging his steps in an effort to keep up. Only Naruto seems alright, and even his body starts to droop with exhaustion after a little.

Kakashi calls it an early night and says he'll take the watch, and the Uchiha _aches_ with gratitude. Literally. It takes all he is to set up his sleeping mat and collapse next to Sakura.

But sleep won't come immediately, and Sasuke curses himself. Kakashi is keeping watch, not within visible distance, Naruto is already snoring on his mat, wrapped around his extra pillow, and Sakura-

Sakura taps him on the shoulder.

Sasuke rolls over on his mat, blinking blearily at her. "What?" he whispers.

She twitches a little, barely visible in the darkness. "Sasuke?" she asks, voice just as hushed. "Why were you getting extra training from Yamato?"

He considers telling her it's none of her business (because it's not), but he knows from far too much experience how much she'll just… latch onto things and not let go, so she sighs. "He knew my brother."

"Oh." She's quiet for a moment more, and Sasuke is about to roll back over, when she speaks again. "Sasuke, can… can I come to training, too?"

His immediate reaction is no. No, because this is for him and it's about his brother, and besides, how much would Sakura really learn, anyway? But… But…

Sakura really doesn't do a lot of training, he thinks. Not enough. It's why she's so physically weak, and it irritates him so much. Why is she a shinobi if she doesn't want to give her best, for one? Why does she have to drag the time down like this? She's worse than _Naruto_ , most of the time, even though he's far more of an idiot.

So… He sighs. "Fine. But I don't know when the next training with Yamato-sensei is."

She grins slightly. "Okay! Just let me know when, alright?"

"Fine."

And then he rolls over and finally – oh god, _finally_ – goes to sleep.


	8. Parallels

**A/N:** This episode references Naruto Shippuden Episode 181, "Naruto's School of Revenge" and Naruto Shippuden Episode 194, "The Worst Three-Legged Race".

* * *

Catching the ostrich is surprisingly easy – it had just gotten farther than anything else they were sent to retrieve. Sasuke's a bit disgruntled by this. Well. That's a bit of a _weak_ word.

When he's sent out on a multi-day mission with an easy to retrieve target, no fighting, and having to put up with his teammates straight for what has been 24 hours straight already, and promises to be more? When he could be _training?_

This is a nightmare.

At least he doesn't have to deal with the ostrich. That's Naruto's job, hah. Hopefully they can finish this up quickly and head back to Konoha before he loses his sanity.

* * *

It doesn't work like that. It never, ever does.

Sasuke stands in the doorway of the inn, watching Naruto run around with Tsukado, with this man who so desperately wants revenge and yet- yet _can't do it._ It's pathetic. What does Naruto know about revenge?

Kakashi steps up behind him. "Maa, anything interesting?"

He deliberately waits a moment before he replies. He's not interested in a conversation. "They're both idiots."

"Oh?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "We both know Naruto's an idiot, but that Tsukado…" He frowns. "You saw it too, didn't you?"

Kakashi nods. "He is more skilled than he lets on."

He considers for a moment. "Are we going to do anything?"

His teacher claps him on the shoulder, and it takes a lot of restraint to not pull away. "I'll let you know."

* * *

He doesn't let him know. No, Sasuke's long gone inside to read one of his jutsu scrolls (lending Sakura one, of course, to keep her entertained and quiet), and Kakashi is keeping watch outside.

No, Kakashi doesn't tell him. There's just an uproarious noise, an unholy squawking, and then Kakashi appears, balancing sheepishly on the windowsill. "Maa, maa, the ostrich ate through his rope."

Sasuke very deliberately _doesn't swear_ and instead scrambles up, following Kakashi outside to chase after the bird, Sakura at his heels. Their teacher doesn't go his fastest – indeed, not even Sakura is hitting her top speed.

She frowns, glancing over at him. "Sasuke…?"

He shakes his head. "Explain later."

They chase the bird down to the river, arriving just in time to see Tsukado actually show off his swordsmanship skills. Why does he hide it? Why?

Because of the other man's eyes. His _eyes._

Honestly, that makes no sense to Sasuke, unless the man is really gay. (He doesn't think he is.) It's the man who killed one of his relatives, who killed one of the people important to him-

Just. Just kill him. Just murder him.

Sasuke doesn't care about weaklings like that.

* * *

But-

But then it turns out all to be fake. Everything is a farce. Sasuke doesn't understand. Why would someone carry the weight of revenge on their shoulder for a brother? It sends shivers down his spine, it feels… wrong, so wrong.

He's quiet on their walk back to Konoha. It's a lot to process, a lot to think about, and then Naruto-

"Revenge is a hard thing, isn't it?"

He. Stops. Metaphorically, of course, he doesn't literally stop. "What would you know?"

Naruto turns to frown at him, confused. "What?"

Sasuke speeds up a little more, walking quickly past the others. "Sometimes, revenge must be carried out, no matter how hard it is."

There's a few minutes of quiet from everyone, and Sasuke can feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, roaring in his ears, and he exhales shakily as Naruto runs up next to him. The ostrich is left behind, likely held onto by Kakashi. "Your brother?"

Sasuke says nothing. Naruto seems to take that as affirmation, and walks close enough so they brush shoulders. The Uchiha very carefully doesn't pull away, and they're quiet together, for just a moment. Walking side by side, teammates, and it's… it's nice. Comforting.

"You know… we'll help."

He turns to look at Naruto, a little confused. "What?"

Naruto shrugs, blinking at him with the bluest eyes Sasuke has ever seen. "We'll help. Me and Sakura and Kakashi-sensei. We can help take down your big brother. I said it before, and I still mean it."

For one long moment, Sasuke can't even _breathe_ \- and then he wrenches himself away, shoulders hunching as he walks faster, faster faster faster so Naruto won't catch up with him and-

No. No. He can't even contemplate that. Not again.

* * *

He's so glad to be home. He's so glad to be home and settle into the regular routine of training and simple missions and then avoiding the hell out of his teammates the moment they're all dismissed. He doesn't want to be by Kakashi or Sakura or Naruto any longer than he has to be.

They… strike a chord with something inside him, his heart aching, and he can't do it. He can't get attached, doesn't want to be attached, just wants to train and do missions and train and do missions and train himself into weariness at his home until he can finally pass out and sleep without nightmares on the floor.

Maybe Kakashi notices. Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe Sasuke is just unlucky like that, but their next mission is out of Konoha.

Their next mission involves his hand glued to Naruto's hand.

* * *

They kiss again.

It's a clash of lips and teeth, bloody and messy as they tumble into each other, crashing bodily, genin-to-genin, as they fall down the waterfall.

Sasuke can _taste Naruto's blood in his mouth._ He can taste his teammate, and it's-

"Why is it always you!?" he asks, and doesn't get an answer.

* * *

They're stuck together for three days, and Sasuke doesn't look at Naruto once. It's half annoyance, half embarrassment. He can't- He can't deal with the fact that he is attached to the boy who has a crush on him, who has _kissed him twice_ , whom he basically has to hold hands with to sleep.

But at the same time, Naruto is a perpetual bouncy ball of energy, yelling and screaming and bouncing off the walls and _Sasuke will go mad if he has to hear another moment of him._

It's such a god damn relief when the glue finally falls away.

It's not even negated by the fact that Kakashi announces the chunin exams a few days later, which means he's going to be constantly with Sakura and Naruto soon enough (he's. Not sure how long the exams last?). Anything's better than being glued to Naruto or kissing Naruto or hearing about revenge from Naruto or _Naruto Naruto Naruto Naruto-_

Besides. He's the top genin. He's going to wipe the floor with all these losers.

How hard can the chunin exams be?


	9. Exam, Part One

There are only two days between finding out about the exams, and the actual exams themselves. Well – one full day, and the day they're told, Sasuke supposes. They have the freedom to do what they wish, so Sasuke trains.

He's under no illusions about this exam.

1) Even though Kakashi SAID they didn't all have to take it, there's no way at least part of the exam isn't a combined team effort. He doesn't relish being matched up with someone else if either of his teammates quit.

2) He doesn't need to worry about Naruto. He's such an idiot that even if he was an absolute failure (which… he's not, as Sasuke's loathe to admit), he'd keep plowing forward towards the exam anyway. Ugh. To be fair (he. Guesses he should TRY to be), that's not a bad way to get stronger.

He hates agreeing with Naruto.

3) Finally, though, Sasuke DOES need to worry about Sakura. He had noticed the way she trailed behind the two, noticed her downcast face, and he knows she's the weakest of them all. Normally, he wouldn't… care. Sakura's emotions are annoying, 99% of the time. But.

If she drops out, or fails early, or something along those lines, Sasuke might get stuck with someone _else._ The thought sends shudders down his spine. He's only barely begun to figure out how to work with the other two – trying to haphazardly take the exam with a new person sounds torturous.

But… he REALLY doesn't want to give her a pep talk or something like that. Maybe he could get Naruto to do it…?

* * *

The idea comes to him that evening, when he beats Iruka-sensei disguised as a random ninja trying to get him to quit. (He… doesn't quite appreciate that his old teacher doesn't think he could win, but Iruka-sensei CARES, so he supposes that is that.) The ninja-that-is-his-teacher disappears, leaving just a rock behind, and Sasuke stares at it dumbly.

Of course. _Jutsu._

Sakura soaks up information like a sponge, reading every single morning and devouring library scroll after library scroll (he is very glad he planted that idea in her head). What would cheer her up better than some Uchiha scrolls to study before the exam? It's perfect.

* * *

Her mother – he assumes – answers the door the next morning when he knocks. "Oh, you must be Sasuke!" she says brightly, giving him a smile that he very much recognizes. "Sakura's just up in her room, come in, come in!"

Sasuke shakes his head. "I have to go train. Here." He offers her the three scrolls he picked out, and she takes them with slight confusion. "Give these to Sakura. Tell her… she'll be fine tomorrow."

And then he's gone, leaping towards the nearest tree before she can say another word.

* * *

Sakura's bright and happy and gushing the next morning, thanking Sasuke for the scrolls – while Naruto complains about how he didn't GET any – so Sasuke supposes he did good.

He rolls his eyes. "Naruto, you can't even _read,_ " he tells him, and ignores the blustered yelling of his teammate as he heads inside. Sakura follows him with a giggle, before Naruto falls into step, grumbling.

"I can TOO read, bastard," he mutters, and Sasuke ignores him.

They make it up the first set of stairs, but are stopped by a large group of people gathered around one of the doors. There's two genin in front of it, blocking the way, rambling about how they're _weeding out the weak_ , and pushing down some poor kid in an ugly green jumpsuit.

Sakura grabs his arm. "Sasuke," she whispers, careful to not draw attention. "It's a genjutsu." She points, subtly, and Sasuke follows the line of her finger – huh. The room is marked '301', which is where their exam is supposed to take place, but… this is the second floor.

Sasuke almost – _almost_ – steps forward to put these two assholes in their place. They deserve to be knocked down a peg, and Sasuke is definitely the one to do it. But Sakura keeps talking. "There's stairs just over there. We can sneak by and no one will notice us."

She's definitely thinking like a ninja, and Sasuke sighs with a nod, before tapping Naruto on the shoulder. "Idiot," he says. "Come on, we have to keep going."

Naruto rounds on him, and isn't quiet at all. "Bastard, we-!" Sakura slaps a hand over his mouth before Sasuke can.

"This is the second floor, dummy!" she hisses out. "Be quiet!" With that, she pulls her hand back, and Naruto rubs the back of his head, apologetic.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll be quiet." His whisper isn't much quieter than a normal volume of speech, but it's good enough, and Sasuke nods.

Sakura beams at them both. "We're doing great already!" she chirps quietly, grabbing both of their hands, and dragging them past the crowd.

Unfortunately, they don't go unnoticed. "Hey!" yells one of the asshole genin. "Where are you guys going? The exam's right here!"

Sasuke doesn't miss a beat. "Bathroom."

There's a pause, and they keep walking – Naruto sniggers. The genin manages to find his voice. "You're all going _together?_ "

Sakura looks back at him and gives him the most wilting glare he's ever seen from her. It's kind of impressive. "Yes. The bathroom's a team bonding activity. That's what Kakashi-sensei says, _duh._ "

No one else stops them.

* * *

Sasuke is… incredibly grateful to be done with the test, when it's finally over. To be honest? It's a miracle they all passed. It was Naruto with a _paper test_. God.

And the drama before it didn't help, what with all the loud-mouthed fellow rookies, Kabuto, and those damned Sound Ninja with their weird tricks. He hasn't even done anything physical – in fact, all he's done is get info on that Gaara, and cheat on a test – but he feels absolutely exhausted.

Fortunately, the next part of the exam is tomorrow.

Naruto leads the way out of the room, bubbling and bursting with joy, but Sasuke and Sakura share a tired look. He feels complete and utter solidarity. Time for this day to be done.

Kakashi's waiting for them just outside the door. "Maa, maa," he asks, as if he doesn't know already. "Did you pass?"

Naruto leaps at him in a hug, clinging to the man while Kakashi gingerly pats him on the back. "Yes! Yes, we passed, Kakashi-sensei! We're gonna be chunin!"

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Idiot. We're not done with the test. We've still got another part to go."

Their teacher eye smiles at them all as the blonde finally releases him. "Well… you've actually got two more to go. There's three parts."

Sakura groans. Naruto pouts. Sasuke resists the urge to bang his head on the wall. Two more? How long was this going to take? It already felt like an eternity, and they had only just started.

Kakashi waves off their distress. "You've passed part one, though! Congratulations. Should we get some ramen?"

As if on cue, his stomach rumbles, and Sasuke reddens. "…Sure." Sakura makes a face, but nods, and Naruto's faintly bouncing off the walls.

"Ramen, ramen, ramen!" he chants, bouncing up and down as he starts to lead the way, Kakashi and then the other two ambling behind. Kakashi spares them from his sing-song antics by asking him for test details, however, and Sasuke is incredibly grateful.

Of course, Naruto's account of the test is extremely inaccurate, spiced up and inflated beyond measure to make the blonde seem like a genius, but Sakura's more than willing to poke holes in his story, angrily interjecting every time he makes up some bullshit. Sasuke's fine leaving them to it. He doesn't really want to get involved – he doesn't care.

Unfortunately, the whole ordeal gets started over again when they arrive at Ichiraku's, and Naruto HAS to tell Teuchi and Ayame what happened (and when did he get on first name basis with them? Has Sasuke been here that many times, really?), and Sasuke slumps in his seat next to Kakashi.

The man just laughs, reaching over and ruffling the Uchiha's hair (which makes him scowl). "You did good today, Sasuke."

Sasuke doesn't look at him. "Hn."

"You stuck together as a team. I'm proud of all of you."

Naruto shuts up, staring at Kakashi. "You're… proud of us?"

Kakashi nods. Probably not sensing his impending doom – because Naruto's eyes well up in tears, and he throws himself at the jounin. "Yes! We really are gonna be chunin!" He crows, clinging to the man.

Their teacher tries to pull him off, to no avail, and Sakura slides over one stool to whisper to Sasuke. "What's up with that?" she asks, and.

Sasuke is abruptly reminded of what she said to him, the day they became teammates. He breaks apart his chopsticks and doesn't look at her. "Hn. I guess he's lucky he doesn't have parents who praise him."

From her sharp inhale, that struck home, and he's definitely relieved when the other two stop their antics, Naruto returning to his overeager story – without any interjections from Sakura, this time – and Sasuke eats. Kakashi surveys them, but says nothing.

He's done quickly, eats quickly, and he sets some yen next to his bowl and slides off the stool. "See you tomorrow," he says. "Don't be late."

The Uchiha lifts a hand in acknowledgement at the good-byes tossed his way from Kakashi, Naruto, and Teuchi, but he doesn't look back.

He has to get home and train for part two.


	10. Exam, Part Two

They're all on time the next morning – it's kind of unbelievable. Naruto is pumped up, raring to go, yelling at the top of his lungs. Sasuke snorts, and looks to Sakura. She meets his eyes for a moment, just a single moment before she glances down and away.

Hm. Looks like she's shaken up from what he said yesterday. Hopefully that won't be a problem.

Sasuke doesn't have even a moment to think about it, though, before the proctor is calling attention to herself – and it becomes very, very clear that could be a problem. This is a challenge where they could die. They have to sign actual, written waivers to prove that _Konoha will not be held responsible for their deaths_. And from the looks of the other genin (the sand and sound and grass nin, especially)… death is a strong possibility.

His mouth is dry, and he swallows sharply. No. No. He can't get too caught up in the possibilities – he knows he won't die today, not tomorrow or the day after or any of the days of this task, and he needs to make sure none of his teammates die today, either.

As the waivers are handed out, the crowd begins to disperse, and he clears his throat. "Naruto. Sakura," he says, and they turn towards him, confused. "Stick close to me. We shouldn't separate."

Naruto frowns. "I'm gonna be stuck with you for five days, anyway! Can't I have a half hour to _myself_?"

Sasuke shakes his head. "We don't know what the other teams are capable of. We don't want them to somehow get a one over on us."

Naruto's not convinced, so Sakura speaks up, nodding in agreement. "Sasuke's right," she says, and the Uchiha relaxes a little. He's not on _that_ bad of terms with her, he guesses. "Maybe they could put a tracker on us, or something. We should stay together."

The blonde accepts that, at least, letting out a little huff but nodding. "Okay, okay…" He looks a little sheepish. "Maybe you can help me with this, anyway. I can't read it all."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Idiot."

Sasuke is really god damn concerned about this whole event.

* * *

They've barely made it a half hour into the forest when Naruto has to take a leak. "You should've went before this," Sasuke mutters under his breath, but ugh, they would've had to deal with this sooner or later.

He catches Sakura's fist before she hits him, though. "No. Naruto should go here, you just look the other way."

Sakura _glares_ at him, ready to protest, before she wilts a little and pulls her fist back. "Because we shouldn't separate, right?" He nods, and she sighs, turning away. "Fine. Hurry up, Naruto."

It's immensely awkward, listening to Naruto piss into the bushes while Sakura blushes furiously and stares off into the other direction, but it's definitely worth it to Sasuke. He can sense the presence of another ninja, and the Uchiha doesn't want to give them even the slightest opening.

"Come on," he says to them as soon as Naruto's finished. "We need to keep moving. We don't want anyone to catch us with our guard down."

They nod. "Right," says Sakura. It seems like she feels a bit better, and he's grateful. Tensions in a team aren't good when they're literally fighting for their life – well, abnormal tensions, he and Naruto are never going to get along while the blonde is an idiot.

He wants to tell Sakura about the watcher, given her intelligence and that he _knows_ she won't do well with a surprise, but he can't think of a way to tell her without the ninja overhearing. Mentally, Sasuke curses. They need… hand signs, or something.

Especially when, about ten minutes later, another watcher shows up. Are they teammates? Most likely – and that worries him. It means there's another teammate lurking about that he hasn't sensed yet, and all of them are quite possibly in danger.

"Stop," Sasuke says, and the other two do so.

Naruto scowls. "Oy, oy, you were the one who said to keep moving! What now?!"

Sasuke – mostly – ignores him. "We need a password. In case we get separated."

Sakura's eyes light up. "I've got an idea! Maybe we could-"

"I already have one," he says, cutting her off, and Sakura wilts a little bit. "We need something no one else will think of."

He kneels down, and the other two follow. "Listen. We need to assume if we get separated, and someone gives a different password, or doesn't know it, they're the enemy. No matter what they look like. Understand?" They both nod, and Sasuke relaxes just a little bit. "I'll only say it once, so listen closely."

Sasuke tells them a song his… his mother once sang to him, the 'Ninja Chance' song, and is a little relieved when neither of them recognize it at all. Sakura picks it up immediately – he's not surprised. Naruto… doesn't, and that's not a surprise at all.

But good. He has a plan.

The Uchiha stands up. "I'll take the scroll," he says, and Naruto scrambles up, too.

"Wait, wait, Sasuke-"

It's as if the enemy was waiting for them to make the password. _Something_ comes flying at Naruto, too fast for Sasuke's non-Sharingan eyes to see it, giving him a scratch on the other cheek to match the one the crazy proctor gave him. "What the-?"

They all turn, instinctively, towards the direction it came from. There's nowhere there, nothing but trees, but Sasuke can feel the hair on the back of his neck sticking up, goosebumps lining his arms as he readies a kunai. There's something… something… something's coming.

He's proven right, a moment later, when a massive gust of wind comes out of nowhere. Sasuke can't see anything, just feel the sting of new cuts forming on his cheeks, feel the dirt hit him as it's gouged up from the ground, taste the burning dust in the back of his throat. He can barely open his eyes into the wind, can't even see his teammates around him-

So he stops grounding himself, letting the wind push him back until he tumbles through a bush. There, finally, he anchors himself, dropping to the ground underneath it and stabbing his kunai into the dirt to keep him stable. It keeps him from the worst of the wind and means that when it finally clears, he has a perfect vantage point of the ones who attacked them.

It's the grass nin. A shudder goes down his back – they had seemed _strong_ , or at least the woman and apparent leader had, and filled with bloodlust. This. This might be a tough one to get out alive from. He watches as the woman tells her teammates to leave (which concerns him even more. How strong is she if she confidently knows she can take them on by herself…?), but before he can see which direction they go, there's a rustling behind him.

Sasuke scrambles to his feet, whirling around with his kunai at the ready, and- it's Sakura. Disheveled, dirty, picking a twig out of her hair, but it's Sakura, looking incredibly glad to see him. He almost – _almost_ – relaxes, but a glance back shows that all three of the grass genin are gone, and the Uchiha is acutely aware of the other mysterious presence that he still doesn't know the source of (he doesn't think it was a teammate, now). He narrows his eyes. "Password?"

She blinks at him, surprised, before she nods and recites it – perfectly, to a T. He supposes someone could be disguising themself as her, but… He doesn't _think_ so.

Before Sasuke can interrogate her further, though, and make sure it's really her, there's another rustle, and both of them whip around. This time, it's an unfamiliar genin from Amegakure. He's a brunette, dressed in a strange yellow jumpsuit with a sash around his eyes and a strange device on his mouth. "Ow, my head…" he groans, rubbing it, before he opens his eyes and jolts at the sight of them. "Fuck, listen-"

The Uchiha can guess who this is, but his kunai is at the ready, Sharingan activating. "Who the hell are you?" he asks, taking up a defensive pose half in front of Sakura.

He shakes his head. "Look, I was watching you guys, but I had nothing to do with this, I _swear-_ "

"Oww!" Naruto's voice cuts him off, and they all turn as the orange-clad ninja half-hops, half-runs towards them. "That hurt! Are you guys okay? Who's that?"

Sakura holds up her hand, and he skids to a halt. "Never mind him," she says. "What's the password?"

"Oh! I know, I know," he says, and grins – and _recites the password perfectly._

Sasuke's eyes narrow. Sakura, on edge from the appearance of the random new genin, narrows her eyes as well. "You remembered it?" Sakura says slowly, unsure, and glances at Sasuke.

Naruto's face scrunches up, confused – but it's different than his normal scrunch. (Why the fuck does Sasuke know this.) "Ehhh, of course! Sasuke said to memorize it!"

"Che." Sasuke glares at him. "You're not Naruto. He could never remember the password. Who are you? Show yourself!"

The Ame genin takes a few steps towards them, standing in a defensive position, and Sasuke spares him not even a glance as he and Sakura stand ready to fight. He doesn't think they're on the same side.

And Not-Naruto's face- twists. Morphs into a smirk that looks so unnatural on the Uzumaki and then the _tongue…_ Yeah, Sasuke has no questions about who this is. "So that's how it is, huh…" the Not-Naruto says, and with a puff of smoke, it's the grass nin woman standing before them. (The Ame nin swears.) "But if you knew he couldn't remember the password, why didn't you make it shorter?"

Sasuke smirks a little. He can't help it. "I knew you were eavesdropping nearby."

She takes off her hat and licks it – ugh. Disturbing. "Oh, really. So you're not tired or letting your guard down… this will be more interesting than I thought."

Where the fuck is Naruto, though?

The Uchiha can't contemplate that long before the grass ninja decides to be even MORE disturbing, somehow. Swallowing the scroll. Sakura shudders next to him, and while Sasuke doesn't twitch, he understands that feeling deeply. It's horrifying. Even if it's the scroll he needs, would need to cut her apart to get it open, or force her to regurgitate it – both of them disgusting options.

The Ame genin swears, and tenses – about to leap away, leave them to their fate, Sasuke thinks – but he never gets the chance.

They die.

It's a forceful wind, rushing at them, ripping them apart and cutting into them – he can feel the sting of every cut on his body, feel the blood starting to drip down his arms, shakes and can barely stand-

He sees Sakura, shaking, fallen, the Ame genin, choking on his own air, and the kunai fly, straight and true and there's no way to dodge they're coming too fast right at their foreheads and there's an explosion of pain and colors and everything blurs blurs _blurs_ together in black and white no colors no colors is life literally fading and-

It's over.

He falls onto his knees, feeling the burning bile in the back of his throat and throws up every scrap of his breakfast. Sasuke finds it hard to breathe, finds it hard to even _think,_ and he forces himself semi-upright, staggers a little, and falls back down.

Sakura's in no better state. Shaking, _trembling_ with fear, eyes wide and tears down her face and looking at absolutely _nothing._ The Ame genin has fallen onto his rear, breath coming in sharp, short bursts as he hyperventilates, staring between his knees at the ground.

She takes a step closer, and Sasuke- He can't _move._ His body won't move, won't do anything but shake as she takes another step, and if he doesn't move he is going to _die_

 _Move-_

He pushes himself onto his heels.

 _Move, do something!_

He reaches out, wrapping his hand around the hilt of a kunai.

 _Get up, get up, get up!_

Slowly – surely, he forces himself to his feet, trembling but- but he can't do any more than that, he can't-

The woman smirks. "What do you intend to do with that?" she asks, continuing to walk closer. "Don't worry, I'll finish this in a second." She takes out three kunai. "You won't even feel any pain."

 _Move, move, move!_

He needs to think of something, do something, as the woman lets the kunai fly and none of them can do anything, all of them are useless and terrified and-

 _Move! Move, move, move, move, move!_

He stabs himself.

Knife sinks into flesh, slicing through and Sasuke cries out, choking for just a moment, just one single moment as the blood starts to trickle down his leg but he can't stop, can't stop, flipping on his Sharingan and scooping up Sakura and snagging the wrist of the Ame genin with the other and they're gone.

He flies from branch to branch, ducking up into the trees as Sakura comes to life in his arms and the Ame genin swears and starts moving under his own power instead of banging uselessly against the bark and straining Sasuke's arm until he can't pull them anymore and he collapses on a large enough branch, dropping both of them and dryheaving.

The Ame genin swears violently again. "Shit! What the hell was that?"

No, no, shut up- Sasuke _lunges_ forward to cover the genin's mouth with a shaking hand, looking terrified back the way they came, waiting to see her pop out and come at them… They need to escape. Need to run. They can't stand and fight, not even with three of them (where's Naruto, _where's Naruto_ )

"Sasuke! There's a snake!" Sakura yells right behind him, and he had been too shaken up, hadn't been paying attention-

It's large, huge, could easily _eat_ them and the three scatter in different directions. The snake comes after Sasuke –

And it's the woman.

The snake is coming out of the woman and Sasuke _screams,_ yelling even though his lungs burn and firing off shuriken at the snake – he can't think, can't process, just _does_ and-

It's dead.

He lands on a branch, watching the corpse fall over, breathing hard and trying to not to throw up. Sasuke glances – Sakura's safe. Nearby. The Ame genin is next to her, and he shakes his head. "We need to get out here," he says, and Sasuke couldn't agree with him more. "Shit, I shouldn't even be a part of this, what the-"

He stops. Sasuke follows his eyes to the corpse, and it's… breaking.

Oh no.

The scales crack, the skin of the snake breaking as the familiar figure of the woman slowly, slowly rises from it. (He hadn't been hallucinating. He kind of wishes he had been.) "Don't lower your guard, not even more a moment," she says. "A prey must always stay tense and try to flee desperately… before a predator."

And then she _moves._ Faster than the snake, but like a snake, winding up the branch too fast for Sasuke to even think, to even do anything.

The Ame genin throws a shuriken but it misses, and Sasuke can't do anything but cry out, taking a step back and palming a kunai before- a mess of kunai and shuriken embed themselves in the branch right in front of her. She stops. Sasuke stops. Sakura and the Ame genin stop.

"Sorry, Sasuke!"

The Uchiha can barely breathe. He turns, slowly slowly slowly and there-

There is _Naruto._ He's safe, whole (if a little… slimy?), folding his arms and grinning a mile wide. Sakura yells in joy from behind him, but Sasuke only has eyes for Naruto.

The blonde beams. "The password… I forgot it!"


	11. Exam, Part Three

Naruto surveys the grass nin before them, and everything pauses for a second. The enemy smirks. "You got rid of my snake quickly," she says. "Well done, Naruto."

The blonde's face twists into a scowl. "That was _you_!" His hands fly, flashing through a familiar set of hand signs. "Shadow Clone Jutsu! You won't get to do it again!"

Dozens of Narutos poof into existence, running at the grass nin full-tilt, and Sasuke feels the vice of terror wrapped around his heart ease a little. Yes. That's a good distraction, a good way to keep her busy while the four of them try to flee for their lives, get away, and maybe survive another day.

He doesn't even care about passing the exam at this point. He just wants to _live._

"Naruto!" he yells, voice strained - he can't bring himself to look at the cloud of smoke that is her decimating the clones. Fortunately, the real Naruto hung back, and Sasuke leaps from his branch to Naruto's, landing with a stagger right next to him. The blonde automatically moves to stabilize him, putting on a hand on his back and-

Wow, he **reeks.** And really is covered in slime.

No, no, not the time.

"Naruto, we need to _run_ ," he tells him. "She's way out of our league - we need to distract her as long as possible and get out of here."

His teammate nods, pale and shaking. "Okay."

Sasuke blinks - he hadn't really expected an easy agreement from **Naruto** , of all people. Before he can question it, though, someone lands behind him, and he whirls around-

It's Sakura and the Ame genin, tense and with drawn faces. "If we can get down to the ground, I've got a plan," he says, and Team 7 exchanges glances. "Look, I don't want to die today, okay!? So-"

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yells in Sasuke's ear, and another wave of clones rushes at the grass ninja. There's no time to waste, and nothing to lose. That won't work for too much longer.

"Down," Sasuke says, and they leap together, landing neatly on the forest floor.

"We just need to delay her as long as possible," the Ame Genin says, flipping through an unfamiliar pattern of seals - and all around them, shinobi begin rising from the earth. Copies of their new ally, as well as copies of the three of them. It's. Incredibly eerie.

He turns to Naruto. "Make four clones and disguise them as us, in the bushes, and then add as many clones as you can to my illusions."

Sasuke should be in charge. Taking control. He _is_ the de facto leader of Team 7 - but he's shaking too much. He hasn't felt blood lust like this since- since-

He thinks he's going to vomit.

Sakura leans into him, grounding him, as they watch Naruto steel himself. He inhales, exhales- "Shadow Clone Jutsu," the blond murmurs, and the effect is instantaneous.

At least a **hundred** Narutos populate the clearing, and as they watch, a ripple passes through them as most of them henge.

It's staggering. Sasuke had no idea Naruto had _that much chakra._

The Uzumaki looks a little worse for the wear, pale with a sheen of sweat covering his skin, but he gives them a tired grin. "Let's go."

They move. The entire production only took a minute, but it's a minute they didn't really have to spare, and Sasuke is beyond terrified that grass nin will see right through it. Or, worse - was watching and is going to get the drop on them any moment. She's so above their power level it's not even funny, and getting into an actual entanglement with her will be the death of all of them.

As the three jump from branch to branch, though, Sasuke starts to think they might actually make it. Ten minutes pass of naught but their hard breathing as they go go go, and there's no sign of her. Naruto hasn't said anything, either, and wouldn't he know if all of his clones were destroyed? They might... they might do this. Survive this.

While Sasuke is starting to feel tired and Sakura is near shaking from the exertion, Naruto is looking a bit better. In fact, he grins at the Ame genin, seemingly relaxed. "Good plan, jumpsuit!" he crows, clearly not afraid of being heard. "She's still fighting them right now!"

Oh. Oh, thank god.

The Ame genin scowls, though. "My name is _Oboro_ ," he says. "Not jumpsuit." After a moment, though, he begrudgingly adds a "Thanks."

Sakura tiredly smiles, leaping to the next branch alongside Sasuke. "What was that jutsu you used back there?" she asks quietly. "I haven't seen any illusions like that before."

Oboro puffs up a little. "I bet. It's actually-"

"Quiet," Sasuke hisses, coming to a stop, and the other three shut up. They all pause for a moment, and the Uchiha stretches out every single one of his senses, desperately trying to find a source for the unsettling feeling burrowing up from his core. "Naruto," he says slowly, as hushed as possible. "Are you _sure_ that-"

He doesn't get a chance to finish.

Sasuke **moves** , hurtling himself away from his branch to another with every ounce of speed in his body. He barely makes it, four shuriken embedding themselves in the spot he just vacated.

There's a laugh and the four of them look up, terrified, to see the grass ninja standing on a _giant fucking snake._

Oboro curses.

"My, my, what clever children," she says, and Sasuke. Can't. Move. It's not like before, with the killing intent that felt as though it was flooding every inch of him - this is just sheer, unadulterated terror.

This ninja had realized none of the many, many copies they had left behind were real. She had slipped by all of the clones while tricking Naruto into thinking the plan was working - probably via her own clone. She had snuck up on them while _riding a giant snake_ , and now had the them exhausted and cornered.

They were going to die.

"This was your plan?" she continues, turning slightly to face Oboro. "A pity."

It's a movement so fast even Sasuke's Sharingan can barely see it. Her tongue whips out, wrapping itself around Oboro's neck and **yanks.** It's barely a blink.

Barely a blink, and a crack, and he's gone.

Sakura gasps, horrified, as the woman retracts her tongue, Oboro's body crumbling, face locked in an expression of horrified shock - Sakura catches him. Sasuke can't stop staring. The last time he saw someone look like that-

The woman laughs. "A pity," she says again, and licks her lips. "If only he hadn't been with you..."

Naruto is shaking. His hands curled into fists by his side, every part of him steel and tense and he _whirls_ , his eyes teary and red red _red_ as he snarls, animalistic and feral. "I'll kill you!" he screams. "I'll kill you!"

He launches himself at the grass nin. Sasuke's only a beat behind him.

The Uchiha has never seen Naruto strong like this before - it's almost frightening. He punches the snake, and it seems to hurt it, to actually **stop** it, but Sasuke drives that thought from his mind. He blocks out Naruto taking on the snake, and Sakura rising to her feet, wiping at her tear-filled eyes and joining in. He blocks it all out.

It's just him and her.

He lunges forward and she pulls back. She lashes out with her tongue and he rolls to the underside of the branch. It's a deadly game, a deadly dance, and it's terrifying. They bandy back and forth fireballs and he tries to trap her with ninja wire but can't, his hands shaking too badly to properly direct it.

Sasuke only really acknowledges the disappearance of the snake (a summons) when Naruto leaps over him, launching his whole orange self at the grass nin with a snarl. "Don't touch him!" Naruto yells, and the woman laughs, easily dodging him.

"I didn't expect to see you here," she says, and Sasuke charges, hands flying through the seals for a fireball but- he has nothing. There's only the barest vestiges of chakra to draw upon, and it's _not enough._

The grass nin takes advantage of his distraction. She flings Naruto away from her, pinning him swiftly to the closest tree trunk with three quick kunai. Before he can do more than snarl at her, she slams her hand into his stomach and he slumps, going terrifyingly still.

Sasuke falls to his knees.

The woman turns on the branch, licking her lips, and slowly - achingly slowly - begins to walk towards Sasuke. He can do... nothing. Absolutely nothing. His legs are like lead beneath him, his breath is coming so fast he's on the verge of hyperventilating, and he's almost out of chakra. (Lose anymore, and he's dead.)

"P... Please," he begs, one hand slowly, shakily moving to the pouch on his hip. He doesn't know if it will do anything - it almost feels like this is a game to her, that she's hunting them for sport - but if giving her the scroll spares them, he'll do it in a heartbeat.

He doesn't get the chance.

" _Don't touch him!"_ Sakura screeches with all the valkyric fury of a twelve-year-old girl. Sasuke barely registers her voice before her fist _slams_ into the grass nin's face. The woman staggers, taking a few steps back, and Sakura takes the opportunity to get between the two of them. Leg back, poised to leap, kunai in her hands and low to the ground - she's ready. "I won't let you touch him you- you _murderer._ "

The woman laughs, straightening up and locking a spot of blood off the corner of her mouth. "Silly little girl," she says. "All ninja kill."

"Then I'll kill _you!_ " Sakura spits, and she hurtles herself forward.

It's too fast for Sasuke to see. Sakura throws a punch at the woman's stomach, but she dodges easily and moves and- the girl cries out, a fresh line of blood slicing down her chest, through her chest, and fuck, Sasuke can't tell how deep it is. "Foolish," the woman says, and then she throws her.

Not hard. She grabs Sakura by the arm and flings her - just hard enough to push her away from the branch, but not hard enough so she can grab another. The perfect amount so she falls right into a gap.

Sakura screams falling and reaching out for something - anything - but there's naught but air. She disappears into the darkness below... and a moment later, her scream cuts off.

It's silent.

And Sasuke is alone with _her._

"Well, well, that was a fun game," the woman says, walking closer once more. She's been toying with them the whole time, Sasuke realizes. She could've taken them down at any point.

"Who are you?" he croaks. "What... what do you want?"

"My name is Orochimaru," she says, crouching in front of him and gently stroking his cheek. Sasuke's skin crawls, and he tries to pull away, but she grabs his chin and holds fast. "When you want more power, Sasuke... come to me. It will be yours."

And then she bites him.

There's a _fire_ burning in his neck, rippling through his veins, infecting the rest of him and he _screams,_ feeling clutching at the wound as his vision flickers...

Before going peacefully, mercifully black.


	12. Sakura Interlude: One

**A/N:** Welcome to the first Sakura Interlude, aka the times when Sasuke is out of commission so Sakura's POV steps in.

* * *

She hurts. It's the first thing Sakura is aware of, the pain. It radiates through her entire body – like Naruto ran her over with an army of shadow clones. Especially her arm, which she's… lying on…? She's never, ever felt like this before. No matter how rough a spar was at the academy, not even when Kakashi nearly murdered them with his terrifying dogs, she's never felt like this before.

What happened?

Groggily, she opens her eyes – they don't hurt, at least, even if they feel almost plastered shut. Her vision swims dizzily for a moment before snapping into focus: she sees trees. Trees. Trees in darkness, night, clearly. Trees…

 _The Chunin Exam._

Sakura sits up and immediately bites her lip so hard it bleeds to try to muffle her cry of pain. Her whole body hurts like hell, yes, but her _arm…_ Tears well up in her eyes as she looks at her left arm hanging limply by her side. It had been lying underneath her, wrenched around, and she wonders if she had instinctively been trying to cushion her fall, in those last few moments of falling. Maybe it worked. Sakura can't tell. What she can tell, though, is that her arm is dislocated. Possibly broken.

Tears roll down her cheek, and she can't help it. The girl lets out a half-choked sob. It's dead silent – and god, she's terrified that she's going to climb up the trees and find someone well and truly _dead_ – the nice Ame boy, Oboro, is fucking _dead_ and her team was attacked by a _fucking Sannin._

The moment she saw that snake summon, she knew. After Zabuza, her newly formed library habit (thank you, Sasuke!) had brought her to the bingo books, and she did her best to memorize the ones that might come up. Orochimaru had been Konohan, once. She remembered him.

And he had come after them.

He had _come after them_ and he had _toyed_ with them and-

The girl leans over, carefully trying to not jostle her arm as she hangs her head between her legs and tries to breathe. _Breathe, Sakura, breathe._ What does she need to do? What would Sasuke do? (No, no, she can't think about Sasuke, she _left him alone with that monster-_ ) What would Naruto do? (He was so still, so still and silent and she thinks of the way Oboro's neck just _snapped_ and-)

What would Kakashi do? She's gonna hug him so hard when she sees him and then hit him for putting this dumb idea in the boys' heads, it's his fault they're in this situation!

No, she can't picture what anyone else would do. It's impossible and makes her heart hurt because all she wants to do is hug them all and never ever go on another mission again. Ever. She'll do D-ranks for the rest of her life if everyone comes out okay from this.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Step one: Arm. Deal with arm.

She's read medical texts, she knows anatomy, she… sort of thinks she knows what to do here. Sakura needs to pop it back into place, probably bite something so she doesn't chew off her own tongue (or was that just a myth? God, she can't remember), and then probably make some sort of splint if it seems broken.

The genin is no medic, and she can feel the deep-seated terror set in every corner of her bones at the sheer silence surrounding her. It's terrifying. She needs to- she needs to do this and get it over with and see how her teammates are. She needs to.

She can do this. She has no other choice.

* * *

 _It's funny how a simple event can turn you_ _r whole world upside down, Sakura thinks. It's not being put on a team with Naruto and Sasuke – though, honestly, she's pretty sure her patience is getting stretched beyond belief with this kind of dynamic. No, it's a simple act._

" _Don't you have any books to read, Sakura?" Sasuke asks, and things. Shift, just a little. She's long resigned herself to never impressing him via her physical prowess (She's just. Not that strong, no matter how hard she tries), but this- she can do this._

 _Sakura is good at reading, and Sasuke seems a little happier in the morning when she's got a book in hand. (Maybe happy is a bit much, but he does frown less!) Maybe she'll never be a rival like how Naruto is, never be someone that throws herself at Sasuke in a fight, never has quite the same… dynamic as the two of them, but she's eager to be useful. She's eager to show Sasuke that she'll listen, that she'll learn, and so she does._

 _The genin becomes a frequent visitor at the library, and reads a vast variety, particularly now that she has access to more books as a shinobi. She needs to learn what she's going to do. There's so many different things, and a lot are less physical – thank goodness._

 _Elemental ninjutsu. Genjutsu. Medical ninjutsu._ _Fuinjutsu. The list goes on and on, and Sakura doesn't even know where to begin. True, she's only a genin, but… but…_

 _She feels like, with these sort of teammates, she might get a little left behind. She doesn't want that._

* * *

The more time goes on, the more terror Sakura feels. Even when she screams, muffled by the kunai in her teeth, shoving her left arm back in its socket, there's not a peep. She weeps softly, trying to stay as quiet as possible, as she breaks branches off the closest tree, bandaging them around her arm and then ripping off part of her dress to create a make-shift sling-

Not a single soul even breathes.

"They might just be unconscious," she mumbles to herself, bracing her good arm against a trunk to help her struggle to her feet. She can't quite believe it. "Just get up there, Sakura. You can do it."

She's shaking, she realizes, trembling with both cold and terror and nausea curling in her gut- Nope, that's bile climbing up her throat, and she leans over to throw up. It's not a pretty sight, and she barely swallows down another go of it. No. No, don't.

It's as good as incentive as any to finally climb the trees.

Sakura mentally thanks Kakashi-sensei for teaching them how to do this – it takes so much effort, one foot in front of the other, but she wouldn't be able to do it with her hands. That's how she realizes she's bleeding, though.

"Oh," she says, softly, looking down to where there's a ragged line cut down her front, starting to slowly bleed again. It… scabbed over, it seemed, or dried, or something ( _how long was she out_ ), but now that she's moving again… it's open. Bleeding sluggishly.

Well, she doesn't have the chakra to stop and deal with it now. She has to keep climbing.

 _One, two, one, two, one, two_ , Sakura counts, focusing on something, anything. Anything than the silence coming from above, anything but the pain echoing through her body (especially her arm) with every step she takes, anything but the slow trickle of blood staining her dress and starting to slowly drip, drip, drip. She thinks she might be leaving a trail.

She thinks she doesn't care.

It feels like it's forever until she hits a solid branch and carefully steps onto it, immediately sagging against the tree trunk behind her. Sakura has chakra – she hadn't really used any before this, and she's so glad for that – but she's so achingly tired she still worries she'll slip and fall, that she won't be able to find them, that she- that she-

No, no, fuck, _no._ Sakura slaps herself with her good hand, shaking herself into awakeness, into clarity. No, she can do this.

Opening her eyes – when had she closed them? – the genin looks around, squinting into the darkness to see if she can find her team. Naruto is- Sakura swallows sharply. He's one branch over, hanging from the tree trunk by a kunai. Sasuke is- She shakes, clutching at her ruined dress with her free hand. He's lying on that same branch, not making a single movement. From this far, she can't tell if either are breathing.

She lets out a choked sob, and _leaps_.

* * *

 _Wave only encourages her – and reaffirms her thoughts. Sasuke and Naruto had been… they had been useful. They had fought. Naruto was the absolute dead last in the class and he had done so much more than her._

 _Sakura had done nothing._

 _Sakura had been nothing._

" _Kakashi-sensei," she asks one morning, when the boys are racing ahead to the missions desk, Naruto racing to get there and Sasuke doing his usual 'I'm not racing you Naruto but like hell you'll beat me', while she and their teacher hang behind. "Can you help me figure out my ninjutsu affinity?"_

 _He gazes down at her with his one eye that sees far more than she ever could, unreadable as ever, and the girl steels herself before she continues. "I… I want to learn some, but I don't know what would be the easiest for me, so I-" She's interrupted as a gloved hand shoves a piece of paper in her hand, and comes to a stop._

 _Kakashi-sensei is offering her the small square, and his eye crinkles up in a smile. "Maa, it's always good to see my cute little students bettering themselves. Do you know what this is?"_

 _She nods eagerly, taking the paper from him and starting to walk again. Sakura can channel chakra into a piece of paper and walk at the same time, so she does – and it turns into dirt, crumbling away. She blinks once, twice, and then beams up at her teacher. "Earth, right?"_

 _He laughs a little, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "Yes, yes, Earth. Come on, or we'll get left behind," he says, and then he disappears from her side in a swirl of leaves and smoke._

 _Cursing quietly in her head, Sakura starts to run. "Hey, hey, wait for me!"_

* * *

Naruto is the closest, but she stops right before she touches him. _Come on, Sakura,_ she thinks. _Naruto would have done so much more for you by this point._ He would. Unreliable, dumb, idiotic as he could be – he was the most selfless of them all, and it's with that in mind that she reaches out, brushing past his hair to gently place her fingers on the side of his neck.

For one heartbreaking moment, she feels _nothing._ She feels absolutely _nothing_ and her heart climbs up in her throat, beating so loud as if to beat for him too, and god she should have been _so much nicer to him_ , but now he's _gone_ and she can't even remember what the last thing she said to him was-

And there's a heartbeat under her fingers.

She stares, wide-eyed, but she can feel the faint twitch underneath her fingers. The slight pulsing of some vein, some artery, whatever, but it's there and it's real and _Naruto's alive._

Sakura hugs him. He's unconscious and hanging from a kunai and pretty slimy, but she's so relieved she hugs him, and then gingerly pulls out the kunai, catching him before he can fall and then laying him down on the branch. He looks… asleep. Peaceful. Not like he had just attacked a missing nin and nearly gotten killed in turn, and it's such a relief she could cry.

But she can't. Not yet.

Still, Naruto being alive has bolstered her, and though she takes a deep breath to steady herself, she's not shaking as she walks across the branch towards Sasuke. He's… crumpled on the branch, hand clutched at his neck, and she's so scared of what she'll see underneath it. A wound?

Sakura crouches next to him, and pries his hand away – no, it's not a wound. It's a _seal_ , she realizes, something she only knows from her time in the library, but that can't be a concern right now. Living, living is the concern, and she can figure out everything else from there.

She presses her fingers to his neck, and this time, she has the mind to be patient. Wait a few seconds, and then the pulse seems to come to life. Thank god, they're both alive. Naruto's alive. Sasuke's alive. All three of them are _alive._

Sakura bends over her teammate and _weeps._

* * *

 _She studies as much as she can – she reads, she devours. When she's not training with her team, not taking missions, she reads. It's not like she has any social life to speak of._

 _That realization actually… hurts. Ino had been the main person she spoke with when she had been in the Academy, even with all their bickering, and now they're on separate teams and she can only see Ino if one of them seeks the other out – which neither will do, of course. They're rivals! They fight!_

 _But Sasuke and Naruto are rivals, and they see each other every day…_

 _It's a bit of a sobering thought. Naruto- Naruto doesn't have any friends, she knows this. Neither does Sasuke. Sasuke doesn't because- because he's Sasuke, because all he does is train and get stronger (and that's really really cool!) but that means that she can't hang out with him. She's been rebuffed since day one, and even though she'll keep trying because she really wants to, it means she doesn't expect an answer in the positive any time soon._

 _Naruto, though… Naruto likes her. (Why wouldn't he? She's the best girl in the whole year!) So maybe… Ugh. Even if he's annoying, maybe…_

 _She crinkles her nose at the thought, but waits until Sasuke's left after training one day (she doesn't want him to get the wrong idea!) before approaching her other teammate. "Hey, Naruto. Want to go shopping?"_

* * *

Sakura carries them down to the ground, one by one. She'd rather bring them down, first – leaving them up in the trees is too precarious, and she's so, so worried. And she doesn't want to leave them alone.

After a long moment of hesitation, she collects Oboro's body, too. She can't leave him lying there.

She's tired, and she can feel that ache in every part of her bones – and god, is it hard to carry people with just one arm – but she still places them under the roots of a tree, big enough to allow for shelter. Sakura carefully rummages through Sasuke's pack, not even blushing because of the circumstances, and pulls out some sweat towels she knew he had stashed in here. (She had seen him use them and _wow._ ) She wets them carefully with some of their precious water, folding them up to lay them on both of her boys' heads, and watches them for a moment.

Sasuke is clearly having a nightmare of some sort – she wonders if it's related to the seal. He looks so distressed, so upset, that all she wants to do is reach out and wipe it all away but she can't, she can't. Naruto… Naruto looks better, but now that he's lying like this, she can see his knit brow, that something is bothering him as well. He's not just sleeping peacefully.

Oboro- She doesn't look at him, tucked away in the corner. She can't.

She watches them for a little bit, catching her breath, before she forces herself to stand. First, she needs to wrap up her side – she has no idea how bad it is, just that it's bleeding sluggishly and when she pulls off her dress the scabbing rips even more, and she has to bite back a cry. Sasuke had packed bandages, thank god, and she has to pull off even her bra to wrap her whole front. It's long and bleeding and that can't be good, but it's not as though she can do anything else for it at the moment.

Right now, Sakura needs to set some traps.

* * *

" _Naruto, if you don't ask me out ever again, we can be friends. I won't ever say yes and be your girlfriend," she tells him, and he agrees._

 _He. Agrees._

" _We'll be friends? Really?"_

 _She rolls her eyes. "Yes, dummy."_

" _Okay!"_

 _Sakura immediately regrets it when she's dragged off to go to Ichiraku – "No, I said shopping! Shopping!" – to greet a bemused Iruka, perched at one of the stools._

" _Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yells, releasing her hand to lunge at their old teacher, almost knocking him off the stool but not quite. He had braced for it. "Guess what! Me and Sakura are friends now!"_

 _Iruka laughs a little, and smiles at him, before smile at her, warm and open and genuine in a way that she hadn't seen from the teacher before. It's not that he hadn't been warm and nice with her before, but this was… this was different? "Is that so, Sakura?" he asks, and she blushes a little, before nodding._

" _Yeah. He's not_ _ **so**_ _bad."_

 _Naruto immediately protests that, but Iruka directs him away from arguing with her, steering him towards telling him about his week, which he eagerly does. He talks about the most banal things, and Sakura blows on her noodles and eats, watching. It's like her and her parents, but… but not._

 _The blonde seems to relish every single word Iruka-sensei says, brightening at every piece of attention, and Sakura wonders, when was the last time she appreciated her parents like that? When was the last time she had hugged her mom, eagerly told her dad all about her day, written a letter to her aunts?_

 _For someone who's legally an adult, she… she has a lot of growing up to do, doesn't she?_

* * *

By the time she finishes the traps, it's daybreak. Sakura has no true way of knowing how long she had been unconscious, before, but it had apparently been a decent chunk of time.

That's. Worrisome.

She's only barely settled herself down when out comes a squirrel from the bushes – and she stops it. Prevents it from going into a trap, and maybe that was too much of a giveaway, because out of the bushes come three ninja. Sound ninja, and they skirt the trap as easy as breathing.

"I'm going to kill the girl, and then I'm going to kill this Sasuke guy," one of them says, and Sakura stops breathing. They work for Orochimaru, work for that Snake sannin, and they're part of the reason that Oboro is dead. They're part of the reason that Naruto and Sasuke are unconscious behind her, and she grabs a kunai with her free hand, every part of her _shaking_.

The one covered in bandages laughs. "Don't bother with the second trap," he says. "We've been watching you the whole time."

She's going to die here, Sakura realizes. She only has one arm, and she hurts and she's bleeding still (did they _watch her change_ she's going to _vomit_ ), but still, she braces herself. Maybe she's going to die here. Maybe there's nothing she can do about it, and tears well up a little in her eyes.

But she'll try to take down at least one of them with her, and hopefully she can stall long enough so her teammates can wake up and save themselves.

They rush at her, and she inhales. _Mom, Dad, if we get out of this, I'm going to give you such a big hug when I get home._ She tightens her grip on her kunai. _Ino, I wish we were best friends again. I wish we weren't so stupid._ She exhales. _Naruto, Sasuke…! I won't let you down!_

And then someone punches the female ninja in the stomach.

The new ninja _moves,_ chakra visible around their fists as they punch her a few more times and she crumples to the ground, before they back up swiftly, getting between Sakura and the other two ninjas as they grind to a halt. It's a surprise attack, and wow, it's a really good one.

"What the hell?" the 'I'm going to kill you' one asks. "Who are you?"

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata," says Hinata, standing in front of Sakura, a squirrel perched on her shoulder. "I won't- I won't let you hurt them."


	13. Sakura Interlude: Two

Sakura can't even breathe. She can't- She can't wrap her head around this. "What- What are you doing here?" she asks, a half-crazed laugh curling in the back of her throat, but she swallows it.

Hinata doesn't turn to face her, keeping her eyes on the enemy ninja even as she sets the squirrel down on the ground. The two boys on the team are hanging back, and the girl is coughing, gingerly shoving herself to her feet. "There… There was an exploding tag on… on the squirrel… So I… I investigated…"

Oh. That explained a lot – and also made Sakura feel a little better. She hadn't given them away by driving the squirrel away from a trap, but that also didn't… "But you're the _enemy_ ," she protests.

For a moment, Sakura doesn't think the girl will answer – they probably shouldn't be talking like this, probably shouldn't be given the bandaged boy time to reassess, reevaluate, but she can't help it. "…Wouldn't… Wouldn't you help me, Sakura?" she asks, and it's like a punch to the gut.

"Yes," she says immediately, ashamed of herself for even asking that, now, her good hand curling around her kunai. "I would." Hinata nods, simple as that.

The bandaged one rolls his eyes. "Well, isn't this a touching display of Konoha solidarity," he snarks, tossing his scroll to the other male. "Zaku, you take care of Sasuke." Zaku. That's the one with the metal on his face, Sakura files away. "I'll take care of them."

"Dosu, let me handle this bitch," the girl says, snarling in Hinata's direction. She looks pissed, and Sakura doesn't blame her - that looked like it _hurt._

"No," says the one named Dosu, the leader. "Stay back, Kin."

And then he takes off. He's not terrifyingly fast, but he's still far faster than Sakura can move, and her shoulders tense up. Hinata cannot dodge, not unless she wants to leave Sakura and her team exposed, and the pink-haired girl doesn't think she'll move. Terrified terrified _terrified_ , Sakura flings her kunai, but Dosu just dodges it easily.

Hinata doesn't even move.

She stands there, ready to fight, ready to take him on, but doesn't move forward, doesn't push to engage, and Sakura can't breathe can't do anything is completely useless-

Something hurtles into Dosu from the side.

It's- It's a tornado, a sideways tornado, hurtling into the sound genin and sending him flying, and Sakura has only a moment to think _Holy shit, I want to learn that jutsu_ , when the whirling stops, and it's Kiba, standing above Dosu and panting heavily. That-

She had no idea Kiba could _do_ that. Dosu is _smashed_ in a crater in the ground, and definitely has at least one broken rib, from how hard that impact was. This is _crazy._

Zaku swears. "Shit, she's got teammates," he says, and then the clearing explodes into movement.

Shino shoots from the trees, appearing out of nowhere just as fast as Kiba had, leaping straight for Zaku and nimbly dodging a _spout of air he shoots from his arms_. Hinata lunges forward, striking at the girl, Kin, with an open palm and slipping to the side to avoid a senbon, which comes to a halt barely a foot in front of Sakura.

Sakura has no idea where to look. Zaku and Shino seem evenly matched. Hinata looks like she'll be winning, though, and Kiba…

Kiba's standing guard over Dosu, but he's not looking at him – rather, his teammates. Sakura doesn't blame him. She remembers Wave, and she deeply understands that it's hard, it's so hard to stay and not fight when everyone else is, even when that's the tactical decision, but-

Dosu is _moving._

"Kiba!" she screams, grabbing another kunai from her pouch, but it's too late. Dosu flings his arm out, connecting with Kiba's leg, and she has no idea _what_ kind of attack it is, but Kiba _collapses._

The thought of another Oboro has her up and running before she's even consciously realized it.

Sakura flings her kunai at Dosu, embedding it in his shoulder as he rises, and bodily _shoves_ her entire self into him, knocking him back down before he's even fully gotten back up. She cries out in pain, her arm on fire, every one of her muscles screaming at her to stop stop STOP, but Sakura pushes past it, desperately forcing herself up and off the other. She doesn't, desperately doesn't want him to hit her with whatever he got Kiba with. It even sent Akamaru down, too, sent the puppy twitching to the ground and she's so, so scared she'll get the same.

He doesn't need to.

Something locks in her hair, yanking and pulling. Tears spring to her eyes as she struggles, but she's dragged up into a sitting position- and freezes, as a kunai hovers right in front of her throat.

"Stop moving, or the girl gets it!" Dosu yells from behind her, and Shino and Hinata. Stop moving. Hinata jumps back first, putting some distance in between her and Kin, and even from here, Sakura can see the panic in her vision, the ways her eyes dart between Sakura and Kiba, lying unconscious but breathing, definitely breathing, at her feet. Shino stays exactly where he is.

Sakura can't see the ninja's face behind her, but he yanks on her hair again and she gasps in pain. "Good, good, just like that," he says. He sounds delighted with himself. "Drop your weapons."

Neither of them move, and Dosu gives another yank to her hair, enjoying her pain. "Drop them, or the girl dies."

Shino is the one to speak – Sakura can't remember the last time she heard him say something out loud. "I can move faster than you," he says, and the girl feels terror settling in her bones. Yes, Shino is fast. She saw that. But-

From behind Shino, out of his peripheral vision, Zaku aims both arms at Shino and blows.

Well, that's what's supposed to happen – instead, Zaku's arms _blow up._ She can see the crackle of chakra around his arms as the sound genin yells in pain.

But that's where she stops paying attention to him, because she sees her chance.

Dosu gasps at the sight of his teammate, and his hand shifts, just a little, just a little upwards, and it's _enough._ Sakura _bites_ him. He yelps and she doesn't let go, doesn't release her teeth even though she can taste the coppery sting of blood in her mouth and it's _disgusting._

Her free hand palms a kunai from her pouch and reaches up and _slices through her hair._

She doesn't give herself a second to mourn. Not a single second to think about it. Shino is there in a matter of seconds, scooping up Kiba, and she drops the kunai, grabbing Akamaru with her free hand and bolting with him.

Zaku is collapsed to the ground, panting and struggling for air. Hinata has Kin pinned to the ground, kunai to her neck and other hand grabbing Kin's arm – no jutsus for her. "S… Stop," Hinata says, as Shino lays Kiba gently on the ground and Sakura holds Akamaru cradled to her chest. "If you m-move, I'll… I'll kill her."

There's terror in Kin's face, and Sakura feels sympathetic, remembering her fear, but she does nothing. Hinata won't kill her, she won't, but- but _they_ don't know that.

Dosu, though? Dosu just laughs, tilting his head to the side and looking like some sort of bandaged, deranged puppet. He's injured, bleeding from the arm and breathing heavily and painfully, but if all he has to do is touch one of them to knock them out, the three of them may still have a fight on their hands. "Go ahead," he says, and Sakura stops breathing. "Kill her, for all I care. She means nothing to me."

Sakura can't help herself. "But she's your teammate!" How- How- How can he say that!?

He laughs again. "You're so _naïve._ What-"

Two kunai embed themselves in the ground in front of him, and he stops talking. They all do – because none of them threw those.

Out of the trees come two genin, and Sakura's brain. Just. Stops. They're wearing yellow jumpsuits- yellow jumpsuits just like- just like-

 _Just like Oboro._

Their words only confirm her frantically racing thoughts. "Sorry to bust in on your… meeting," one of them says, glancing around. "But we're looking for our third teammate."

The second one, slightly shorter, glances over to meet Sakura's eyes. "He was following _your_ team. Any idea what happened to him?"

She wonders, for one hysterical moment, what their relationship is. Sakura would jump into a bunch of enemies for Sasuke, or for Naruto, she knows she would (now, she knows she would – she didn't before). Any member of Team 8 would. The sound team… wouldn't.

But how does she even begin to explain what happened?

"He… I…" She stumbles over her words, gently petting Akamaru. He's comforting. Shino and Hinata trade confused glances, and Sakura tries to steel herself, tries to say it.

But Dosu laughs again, and it's a chilling sound. "You killed him, didn't you?"

Sakura blanches, even as the Ame genin start. "N-No! Your boss killed him!"

He smiles behind his bandages, evidenced only by the crinkling of his eye. It's something familiar to see on Kakashi – it's terrifying to see on him. "Then why do you have his body in your hideout?"

She bursts into tears, trembling and shaking and half-burying her face in Akamaru's fur. "I c-couldn't leave him!" Sakura wails, and the entire clearing stares at her. "I couldn't- Oboro t-tried to help us _escape_ from Orochimaru, and th-then the snake k- _killed_ him, snapped his n-neck and- and- and-" She can't finish, desperately sucking in air.

"He's… he's really dead?" whispers the shorter Ame genin, and Sakura nods miserably.

"Orochimaru- You mean the Sannin?" asks the other one, horrified, and even though she can see the growing disbelief on Hinata and Shino's faces, Sakura nods again.

"And _you-"_ The shorter one growls, whipping around to glare at Dosu, who takes a step back. "You work for him!?"

Dosu smirks. He's cocky, cocky even though he's the last one of his team, and Sakura wants to reach out and smack that sorry face of his, but she just cries.

"Sakura," says Shino from right next to her. "What's that?"

There's a purple chakra rising from the tree where she left her teammates and Oboro. Slowly, everyone turns to look at once. Sasuke pushes himself up from the ground, and for one sheer moment, all Sakura can feel is relief. "Sasuke!" she cries, "You're-"

And then it hits her.

It's the teeming essence of _wrong,_ of _corruption,_ of _Orochimaru_ that's surrounding Sasuke and choking the air around them. Chakra usually isn't visible, not like this, but it whips and spirals around him, a sickening purple color that seems to coat every inch of his body. As he steps into view, however, steps out of the shade, she realizes that's not the case.

There are little tattooed _flames_ covering his body. They spread down his left arm and across the left side of his face, and Sakura knows with terrifying, heartbreaking clarity that they must come from the seal. No wonder they feel of corruption and of the sannin – whatever this is, whatever's infected Sasuke, it's from him!

Sasuke takes another step forward, and his red, Sharingan eyes meet hers. She quakes. She's- She's never been scared of _Sasuke_ , not _ever_ , but she finds herself shaking, so, so scared of what he's going to do. This isn't him. This isn't her teammate, this isn't the boy she's come to know as her friend, and it's both heartwrenching and the most frightening thing she's ever seen.

"Sakura," he says, and he doesn't look away. Neither does she. "Who did this to you?"


	14. Exam, Part Four

He is alone. It's the first thing Sasuke's aware of. There's no one else around – nor nothing else around, but a myriad of colors that stretch above him, below him, around him. It makes no sense. He is on nothing, nothing at all, and yet he is standing. The Uchiha takes a step forward, glancing around, and that's when he sees him.

It's him, from long ago.

The young him is crying, fiercely crying, and Sasuke feels no need to wipe his tears. He feels the need to shake him, to tell him to stop crying because crying solves _nothing,_ it does _nothing_ , but the other boy speaks first. "Father and Mother didn't need to die!"

And suddenly, he's back in his home.

The bodies of his parents lay before him, fallen over each other from where they were kneeling – why? Why were they kneeling? – but everything has a sheen of… of fakeness to it. It's like one of his nightmares, when he keenly realizes it's a nightmare, and knows it's not the truth. But the younger him keeps talking, and the real Sasuke trembles.

"Everyone was killed," the younger boy says, and the older Sasuke can't see his eyes anymore, can't see his gaze, as he hunches forward, hiding in the shadow of his hair. "I had no power so… the clan vanished."

This is an illusion, Sasuke thinks. It's not a nightmare. It feels too… too vivid to be that, the other Sasuke, but everything else is so fake it must be an illusion. But not a genjutsu…?

"After all," the young boy says, clutching at his head, "Without power… I can't do anything! Because I had no power… everyone was killed!"

"No…" he says, and he looks up, and the real Sasuke _trembles._ "You killed them. You only watched. If I only I had power…"

And the boy shifts, transforms, and it's Itachi, it's Itachi and he's reaching out for him and- "If only I had the power…"

* * *

Sasuke wakes up. There's no pain. He feels… strong. Powerful. As if he could take on the world and leave it as nothing but ashes behind him.

It's a good feeling.

Naruto is lying next to him. He remembers how Orochimaru had pinned him to the tree, had done something, so he reaches out, pressing his fingers to Naruto's throat to make sure he's alive, and he does. Thump, thump, thump goes his heart, and he breathes, and Sasuke pushes himself to his feet.

There are others here.

Team 8 is here. Hinata pins down a sound genin. Shino holds Kiba. One sound genin lies on the ground, stunned and groaning. One sound genin stands, a half-crazed grin seemingly on his face beneath his bandages. Two Ame genin, in the same uniform as Oboro, stand in the center. And Sakura-

Sakura is _hurt._ One arm wrapped up, as if broken, hanging from a strip of cloth around her neck, a bloodstain on her front, her hair chopped short, Akamaru clutched to her with her free arm and _tears on her face._ Sakura looks beaten up and terrified.

She meets his eyes. "Sakura," he says, slowly but surely, feeling the power swirl in and around him. "Who did this to you? Who is it?"

"Sasuke…" She says, and she shakes. "Your body…?"

He has his sharingan activated, he realizes, though he doesn't recall activating it, but that's not the concern here. Sasuke looks down, and there are… flames trailing up his arms. Not real ones, but… tattoos…?

That should be alarming. He doesn't know where this power is coming from, he doesn't know why these marks are on his arms, and the sharingan activated without his conscious thought.

Sasuke isn't alarmed.

"Don't worry," he says. He understands, now, what the woman had been saying. She had given him power. The power that flows freely within him – and she can give him more, if that is what he desires? Interesting.

He smirks. "Sakura, get behind me." Uncertainly, she glances at Shino, and then Hinata, but does as he says. Slowly, but surely, shuffles towards him, step by step by step. She's slow, but that's something Sasuke has long learned about her. He has all the time in the world… None of them can stand up to him here.

The moment she's close enough, he grabs her. Not hard, but not gentle either, and she looks terrified.

 _She shouldn't be looking at him that way_ , whispers part of his mind, but he ignores it, squashes it back down and refuses to think about it. Who knows. Maybe she _should._

"Who did this to you, Sakura," he says, and it's not a question. It's a demand, and her eyes skitter away from him. From the corner of his eye, he can see Team 8 readying themselves for something, but he pays them no mind. He can take them.

She's terrified, trembling beneath his fingers. "Oro… Orochimaru," Sakura whispers, and Sasuke absorbs that. The blood on her front must have been from when she cut her. The broken arm from when she fell. But her hair…

"Was she the only one?" he presses, and Sakura's eyes flicker. Flicker in one specific ninja's direction. Sasuke lets go and he's gone.

This power is _so much._ He flies across the clearing in an instant, smashing his leg into the sound genin's side and sending him into the closest tree. The genin cries out, falling helplessly onto the ground, and it's clear he's broken something. Sasuke _grins_ , putting his foot on the other ninja's chest. "Don't touch her," he breathes.

(Something's going on behind him, but he ignores it. He cares little for the antics of Team 8. They're nothing to him, nothing but dust and ashes and vermin.)

The genin's eyes are wide, wide wide wide and _frightened_ , and Sasuke _relishes_ in this. He brought him down. He made this genin feel as though there was no way out, no possible way to win. "Please," he begs, and oh he _begs._ It's delicious. It's beautiful. Sasuke presses down harder with his foot, and the genin gasps. "P-Please… I'll g-give you my scroll, just… let us go, please…"

Sasuke stops. Considers this for a moment. "Give me the scroll."

The genin reaches into his pouch, and Sasuke watches him closely. He pulls out naught but a scroll, and the Uchiha relaxes, reaching down to take it. It's an Earth scroll. Exactly what they need.

He smirks. "This is exactly what we need," he says, and hope, desperate, dogged _hope_ flickers across the sound shinobi's face. "Too bad it doesn't matter." Sasuke grinds down with his foot, digging into the genin's ribs, and he screams in pain.

" _Sasuke-"_

There's no one but the two of them, no one but Sasuke, the one who is feared, who is a _threat_ , who has so much power he can dispose of this genin with barely a _thought-_

" _Sasuke!"_

If this is what true power is, he needs it. Craves it. This is the way to defeat Itachi, he knows, and he grinds down even harder. Any more, and he'll kill him, Sasuke thinks. Snap the remaining rib bones and drive his foot straight through his heart. It's what he deserves. It's what he should do. He _hurt_ Sakura, and that meant Sasuke should-

The fist comes out of nowhere.

One second, it's him and the genin and _power_ and _fear_ and _everything he'd ever wanted_ , and the next, a fist is slamming into his cheek, sending him flying off the sound genin. Sasuke twists around in midair to land nimbly on his feet, glaring with red red _red_ eyes, and meets the eyes of his opponent.

It's Naruto.

He's breathing hard, Sakura right behind him – she must have woken him up? – and he's glaring. "Bastard!" he says. "What the hell was that for!? You were gonna kill him!"

 _Of course he was_ , Sasuke almost says. He deserves it. He did, and Sasuke should end him and the world would be better and-

But he stops. Looks at the way fear flickers through Naruto's eyes, though a different fear than the terror Sakura holds. Looks at the genin, barely breathing at the ground. Looks at the way that the conscious members of Team 8 stand ready to battle, a few feet behind them, and even the Ame Genin seem ready to pounce to save the one that Sasuke had been hurting.

He had… he had been ready to kill that genin. Kill him because of _power._

" _Why? Why did you do this?"_

" _To test the limits of my ability…"_

Sasuke turns around and throws up in the nearest bush. He sinks to his knees, trembling trembling trembling, hugging himself tightly and he's so, so relieved to feel that power, that terrifying, dark power leave him. The flames on his arm are gone. Chakra no longer swirls around him. He's nothing but Sasuke. Just… just Sasuke.

Naruto wraps his arms around him, and Sasuke sinks into him, shaking. He's warm.

* * *

Things go on in the background. Talking. Discussions. Sasuke tunes it all out. He can't- He can't focus on it, can't think, can't really do anything. At one point, Naruto switches spots with Sakura, and she sits next to him, arm wrapped around him. She's not as warm as Naruto.

All he can do is stare at his feet, head between his legs and try to _breathe._

Someone is saying his name, but he doesn't respond. He doesn't acknowledge it, until there's a rough shove to his side and he almost topples over, barely catching himself. "Oy, Sasuke," the voice says, and Sasuke realizes it's Naruto. He blinks up at him, meeting worried blue eyes. "Come on. We're leaving."

He accepts the hand that helps him to his feet, staggering into his teammate, and he finally, finally, takes stock of the entire clearing.

All three of the sound genin are tied up, but they're apparently not being left behind. The Ame genin both have one they're carrying, and Shino has the other. Kiba is up, but woozy looking, leaning on Hinata, while Sakura carries Akamaru in her non-broken arm. Oboro's corpse is nowhere to be found, and Sasuke thinks someone must have sealed it away, for there's no upturned earth that he can see.

And Naruto is standing behind him, right there for Sasuke to lean on. "Alright," he whispers hoarsely, and sees a little bit of tension fade from the other's shoulders.

They're slow going. With two members of the group leaning on others, three passengers, and Sakura being… Sakura (though maybe that's uncharitable, given how hurt she is), they make slow going. It's okay. Sasuke doesn't mind it.

The others talk quietly among themselves, but Naruto is quiet, for once, and no one speaks to Sasuke. It's alright. He's okay with that.

He doesn't want to talk.

* * *

It's not until they reach the tower, though, limping through the darkness and the night (for there is no reason to stop, not now), that Sasuke comes to a realization. "Naruto," he asks, voice rasping from lack of water, and his teammate snaps to attention. "Did anyone grab the sound genins' scroll?"

There's a silence, and the Uchiha tries not to curse. They need that scroll, they _need_ to keep going, but none of them (except maybe Naruto) is in any state to keep going. "You can have ours," says one of the Ame genin, and Team 7's eyes snap to him.

Sakura protests. "No! We- We couldn't take your scroll!"

The second one shakes his head. "You have to have all three team members, to… to finish the second exam. We. Don't." His voice cracks at that, even as he reaches in his pouch, pulling out his scroll and offering it to Sakura. "You did your best, with- with Oboro. Take it."

She does.

* * *

They're some of the first teams back, but Sasuke can't bring himself to care. Iruka is stunned by the state of their team, and there is a lot of yelling, lots of strong words, lots of things that Sasuke just tunes out.

He pays attention when Kakashi shows up, though, because Kakashi tries to take him from his teammates.

"Sasuke," he says, with patience that the genin has never heard from his teacher in his _life,_ "We need to deal with that seal."

The boy shakes his head, stubborn as can be. "Then they come with me. They can watch." He's not letting them out of his sight. For… quite a few reasons, but he doesn't want to think of them, because they whirl and twist and blend in his head until he can't focus. He can barely focus at all, right now.

Kakashi sighs, and caves, and the two watch as Kakashi draws painstaking patterns over the Uchiha's body. "You have to want it to stay sealed away," his teacher says, and Sasuke nods.

He wants it to stay tucked away. Very, very much so.

* * *

For the next three days, all he does is sleep. That medic, Kabuto, shows up at one point, and offers to heal everyone who needs it – all the Konoha ninja that need it, that is, and Sasuke decides he must not be so bad. Sakura definitely needs the healing.

At least one of his teammates is by his side at all times, and Sasuke can't find himself mad about it. He likes having them close. Likes waking up with a sudden jolt and seeing them right there, breathing and alive and decidedly unmurdered by Itachi or Orochimaru or even himself.

Sakura must tell Naruto everything, because he doesn't bother Sasuke with questions, and the Uchiha is extremely grateful for that. He doesn't think he could answer them right now, and it's not like he exactly _has_ a lot of answers.

Naruto just stays close, and Sakura just stays close, and even Kakashi occasionally peeks his head in, pretending he was just swinging by even though there's no reason for him to be in the tower aside from visiting his team.

The night before the second part of the exam ends, Naruto sits next to him on the bed, their shoulders brushing. "Are you ready for tomorrow?" he asks with a grin, like nothing has happened, and Sasuke…

Sasuke finally, finally relaxes. He smirks. "More than you, idiot."

The ensuing squabble is a balm to all of his worries.

* * *

 **A/N:** All of my current chapters are now uploaded! This fanfiction updates every other Wednesday - meaning the next time it will update will be February 21. Thanks for reading! You can find me on chadsuke on AO3, chadsuke on tumblr, or cornerofyoureyefic on tumblr. Thanks again!


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